Our Bohemian Lover
by Opera Dreamer
Summary: It all started with a girl...Fred has fallen for a hippie from Seattle named Emerald Shepherd, but when they are torn apart by his twin in unforgivable passion, who will be the one to leave?
1. It All Started With A Girl

So here it is, my brand new story! After 'Nightingale', you guys knew that I couldn't very well stop now! This was actually inspired by a friend of mine who is named Emerald so thanks to her for giving me this idea! We were actually really joking about it and I don't think that she's expecting this, but I'm doing it anyway just because I feel like it. It's kinda cute and a bit out of the norm for most twin stories, but what can I say? I'm kinda awesome like that...lol, yeah right!

Cheers to a new story and for lots of reviews!

_It all started with a girl…_

Her name was Emerald Shepherd, a quirky witch with the attention span of a tick. A bohemian since birth thanks to her hippie musician parents, Emerald was a free spirit without a single soul on the planet that had the power to tell her what to do. She had a lovely face with concentrating hazel eyes that hid mysteriously behind a pair of thinly framed silver glasses. She had a mix of auburn and brunette hair that in certain lights looked shockingly red. It swung around her shoulders straight as a pin with bangs hanging halfway across her forehead. Freckles tickled her nose and spread sparsely across her cheeks. A gangly girl in appearance, she stood barely over five and a half feet tall. She had one of the most beautiful smiles that most had ever seen, but today she was not smiling. Today, she wept.

Ever since she had left England, she had changed herself. Things had happened…terrible things that she wished that she could forget. But now she had returned. From what she could understand so far, it had been two weeks since the long awaited defeat of Voldermort. Emerald was lucky to have been so far away from the dangerous action, only hearing a few snippets of information at a time. That's what happened when you lived in the middle of Russia with the nearest town a day's ride away. This piece of information, though, did make it to her the instant that it happened. The instant that the final battle had broken out, news spread across the magical world, even reaching Emerald in her snow covered cottage. The next piece of news that reached her nearly killed her on the spot.

That's why she was here again.  
That's why she had taken the long journey from Russia to London.  
This place…this coffin was the reason why she was here…

It was raining. Large black umbrellas were gathered around a stark open grave with a black casket hanging over the hole. An array of flowers covered the ground, almost engulfing the casket with soaking petals. She shivered as a harsh breeze blew past her. Emerald wasn't used to the rain, having gotten used to the snowy hills in Russia. She wore a long black cloak with a large hood lined with fur. Fur had become her best friend even though she hated the thought of killing small animals to keep herself warm. Her arms were crossed to keep her warm, but she was still shaking. She was front in center, directly across from the grieving family. She recognized most of them, but only one stood out to her; he looked like a puzzle that was missing a very big piece. She smiled briefly, but he wasn't even looking at her. He just stared at the ground, every inch of him wanting to just leave.

All of a sudden, it started to rain even harder. The man who was talking, a man that Emerald recognized only slightly, quickly finished up what he was saying and dismissed the mourners. Emerald stayed in her spot with a stone look on her face. Within moments, the family had left to get into the car…all but one. Emerald found herself frozen in her spot. All this time, she had been unable to cry, but now she was rushed with emotions. She slowly walked around the grave, her eyes focused on what had been her closest friend. She finally stood beside him without him even glancing towards her. Emerald pulled back her hood, letting the rain slap against her hair and face.

"Hello George." His eyes flicked up first before he picked up his head to look at her. He had been crying, but the sadness had disappeared from his face. The only thing that remained was utter shock.

"Em…what are you doing here?" She shrugged her shoulders, glancing down at the casket.

"I heard about Fred…" She said simply. His jaw was dropped as he just stared at her. She wiped her face of all the collected water. She knew that she was crying, but you couldn't tell because of all the rain. "I'm so sorry George…" He slowly nodded.

"Thank you for coming…I know that Fred would have really appreciated it...he missed you..." She nodded, pushing back her soaking hair.

"How've you been?"

"George! Get in the car this instant!" George glanced over his shoulder to see his mother leaning out an open door with a sour look on her face. He quickly turned back towards Emerald.

"I'm sorry…are you coming to the pub?"

"Uh…I wasn't planning on it, but…if you want me there…"

"Great, I'll see you there." He quickly rushed away, leaving Emerald with a strange chilled feeling. He was running away from her. She could understand why…it just hurt to watch it happening right in front of her. Emerald watched him climb into the car and offer her one last wave before it sped away. She stood fixed in the rain before glancing back into Fred's grave. She slowly approached the grave, slowly being filled by two grave diggers. The rain was letting up, almost stopping until it was merely a light drizzle. She combed a hand through her hair to try and get it to dry faster. Emerald let out a shaking sigh, the tears quickly returning as she stared at the soaked flowers. She crouched down, watching the hole quickly fill with dirt and the flowers were slowly taken away. One of the grave diggers suddenly approached Emerald, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Sorry miss, gotta ask you to move so that we can get these flowers to the house." He said, heavily supporting himself on a mud covered shovel. Emerald quickly nodded, standing back up and smoothing down her cloak.

"I'll move…" She whispered quietly.

"Thanks love." She nodded at him and he quickly walked away to start clearing the flowers. Emerald glanced back down at the grave, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Bye Fred…I love you…and I never stopped..."


	2. I Can See You

I do wonder if it's actually occurred to people that if they review, I will post more chapters...idk, just something to think about! I really love this story you guys, please let me know what you think!

It all started about three years ago at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In their seventh year, Fred and George Weasley were just discovering how much power they actually had at Hogwarts. They were the pranking kings; no prank would go unnoticed. Each prank would have a greater, more lavish plan then the prank before it. They were bound to go down in history for the havic they had reined over their several years at Hogwarts. At the moment, they were figuring out how much fun transfer students could be. There stood helpless Emerald Shepherd, fresh hippie meat from the states. Both boys found her to look extremely ridiculous, decked out in her bohemian gear with the long skirt and peasant top. Not to mention they rarely saw her feet with shoes on them. She was a true hippie, apparently born and bred. Her parents were hippies from Liverpool, born while they were still swept up in The Beatles belief of peace and free love. She strode around in hemp tank tops and her forearms covered in woven bracelets and leather straps. According to George and Fred, she was just begging for a prank.

It took about two weeks for them to come up with the perfect prank. By then, Emerald had made a few friends, all of them girls who were vegetarian with their own form of expressing their inner hippie. It was late one night and the twins couldn't help but notice that Emerald had slipped out of the Gryffindor dorm room. They quickly followed after her, stealing Harry's invisibility cloak to help them out. This was a regular occurance so if he woke up to discover it was gone, Harry would know who had it. She strode down the halls, her hands stuck in her sweatshirt pockets. The twins stayed on their toes and only took a step when Emerald took a step. If you couldn't tell, they had done this before...perhaps one too many times. They didn't notice that she was leading them up flights of stairs until they reached a lone tower with a locked door. They stopped a few steps behind her, waiting as she pulled a key from around her neck and pushed it into the keyhole. She stopped, glancing over her shoulder.

"You guys are good, but I can hear you." George instantly threw off the invisibility cloak, not even giving them a chance to deny that they were there.

"How the hell did you hear us?" He asked. It was clear that he was upset. Their prank was ruined. Precious planning time had been wasted when they could have been selling their many fine products.

"You're wearing shoes, I'm not. You figure it out." She muttered. "You two are supposed to be pranking genius's." Fred slowly pulled off the invisibility cloak of his shoulders with a frustrated look on his face.

"It could have been one of the ghosts." He shot back.

"Ghosts float." She shot back. "Got any more excuses, because I really should be going."

"What are doing up here anyway?"

"The better question is what are you two doing up here?" She turned to fully face them with her hands on her hips. "Why are you two following me?" The two boys instantly perked up, mustering the most innocent looks on their faces.

"We…heard you leave…and…"

"Yeah, and we followed you to…make sure that you were safe!"

"That's right, to make sure you were safe!" Emerald continued to stare, her eyebrows slowly rising as each boy spoke.

"Uh huh…well I really appreciate you both looking out for me, but I really need to be going now." She turned back to her door with her key at the ready.

"Wait, what's in that room?" Fred asked eagerly. Emerald turned back.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because no girl sneaks out in the middle of the night just to go into a room…what are you going to do in there anyway?" Emerald let out a heavy sigh, pulling the key back and letting it dangle around her neck.

"If you must know, it's my yoga room." The twins quirked their heads to the side.

"Yoga room?" They asked in unison. Emerald quickly nodded, finally unlocking the room and pushing open the door. The twins stuck their heads inside to see a very small circular room with a blue mat covering a good portion of the floor. A small window was open, letting in the moonlight with a small boom box resting just beneath the window. She crossed her arms, waiting while the two boys kept examining the room.

"Are you two almost done?" She asked.

"What's yoga?" George asked.

"And why do you get a room for it?"

"Yeah, how did you get a room? You're a new transfer student. You haven't even been here a week and you get your own damn room!" Emerald slipped off her shoes before slowly stepping inside.

"Yoga is a way to focus the mind, it's been used for centuries by people all over the world. And I got my own room because I asked for it." The boys stared at her.

"You asked for it?" Fred asked. Emerald nodded.

"I asked for it."

"You can't be serious." George muttered. "You got a room just because you asked for it?" Emerald pressed a button on the boom box, a slow humming coming from the speakers.

"It's possible that a cash advance from my parents helped me get a room, but all I know is that I asked for this room to do my yoga in and they agreed. Now will you please let me focus?" George and Fred became silent when Emerald closed her eyes, pressing her palms against one another and bringing her left foot to rest against her right knee. She stood completely still, her facial features slowly relaxing. They stared until they became bored, which honestly wasn't that long. Fred glanced over at George.

"I'm not walking back now, it took us fifteen minutes to follow her here and…we've got all of these cherry bombs…" Emerald pursed her lips together.

"Leave!" She exclaimed angrily. "If you're going to stay, shut the hell up!" The twins shrunk against the doorframe, their eyes wide with terror. She settled back into her original pose, letting out a heavy sigh and rolling back her shoulders. "Just what I need…two pricks to follow me and annoy me…"

"Who you callin' pricks?" George asked.

"You and your brother, or are you too daft to know that you have a brother?" She asked as she arched her back and brought one foot up and held it above her head with her hands. While this should have been interesting and slightly arousing to the twins, they were too focused on how pissed off they were.

"I am not daft." George shot back with his face scrunched up. "And you don't have to be such a bitch about this, we just wanted to have a bit of fun." Emerald slammed her foot down on the floor and glared at the boys.

"You two came up here to prank me and now you're getting mad at me because you didn't get to go through with it! You have no right to call me a bitch!" She stomped over to the door and grabbed it angrily. "You two are miserable pricks with the consideration of a flea. I hate you and I hope that you both drop dead." Emerald slammed the door in their faces, knocking them back a few steps. They stared up at the door as the music was turned up to shut out all other noises, but mostly to get the boys to go away.

"I don't think that went too well." George muttered as they slowly trampled down the stairs. Fred shook his head with his hands shoved in his pockets.

"Nope, not exactly as we planned."


	3. It Was All Just A Very Bad Idea

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Thank you to, I think EternalSilver...sorry if the name is wrong, for adding this on their story alert list. You're the first person to show any interest in this story and it is definitely appreciated!

After the prank job that Fred and George had unsuccessfully pulled on Emerald, the boys decided that they needed to step up their game. This girl was going to be hard to pull their same old tricks on; the Weasley twins needed to come up with something new, something ingenious that would have the entire school rolling with fits of laughter. So, instead of studying for their first potions test as they really should have been, the twins put their pranking heads together to try and figure out what to do. After deciding which direction they wanted to go in and experimenting with different concoctions made from paint, toothpaste, and lake water, they had devised what they thought to be the best prank that they were about to pull off.

Because Emerald had been assigned to live in Gryffindor, it made it much easier for the twins to follow her and observe her every move. They memorized her habits and studied what kinds of things she liked and hated. Not many people knew how serious Fred and George took their pranks. They went in depth, over the top to pull off the perfect prank that would have people roaring in their seats for weeks. They were the experts of the school and there were certain things expected of them. If they didn't live up to their name, they would be the laughing stalk of the school. That was not the way to finish out their seventh year. This absolutely had to be the biggest and best year of their pranking life.

On a Saturday night, when Fred and George knew that kids would be staying up late, they set their trap. They knew that Emerald went every night at eleven fifteen to her private tower room to do yoga, so that's where they set their trap. First, they set everything up in her room with the help of Harry's invisibility cloak. It was a possibility that they had stolen Emerald's key, but she was too busy studying to notice. They silently returned the key, this time without Emerald hearing them, and went to phase two. They gathered their closest friends down in the corridor just below Emerald's tower. They all waited at the bottom of the staircase, a little confused as to why they were here.

"It's late, why did you drag us all down here?" Hermione asked, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. George and Fred just laughed, patting each other on the back as if they had already pulled off their prank.

"You'll see." Fred said proudly.

"By the end of this you'll be laughing like hard, you should really thank us now while you all can still speak." George said quickly. Ron furrowed his brow together.

"What are you two up to?"

"They're pranking somebody, isn't that obvious?" Hermione asked, still looking upset as she could be.

"Come on Hermione, don't look at us like that. Pranking people is just what we do and if we were to ever stop, it would completely throw off the balance of the universe." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"You two are impossible." She muttered.

The Weasley twins didn't get a chance to respond to Hermione's rather cruel remark. Just as they were about to defend themselves, a certain girl came walking down the hall. Everybody turned to see Emerald walking towards them with an odd look on her face. She was barefoot in a pair of pajama pants with a tank top, her hair pulled up into a messy knot. She furrowed her brow as she slowly approached the crowd of people.

"What are you all doing down here this late?" She asked, her eyes continuously going from one person and then back to the twins. There was something definitely suspicious about this and there was no doubt that she was scared.

"Oh nothing, just enjoying this lovely Saturday night." George said with a wicked smirk.

"Off to do your evening yoga?" Fred asked. Emerald pursed her lips together. She knew that they were taunting her and getting full enjoyment out of her being so upset.

"Yes…why do you care?" She asked angrily.

"Oh we're just curious…I think it's great that you are so committed to something so ridiculous."

"Well at least it keeps me healthy, unlike you two who are constantly laughing at the misfortunes of the people around you." George shrugged his shoulders.

"It's not our fault that unfortunate things just happen to people while we're there." Emerald raised an eyebrow.

"Either way, I don't want you to come anywhere near my yoga room." She slipped past them, ignoring the other people that were standing there. As far as she was concerned, they were of no concern to her…but it was doubtful that Emerald would ever trust the twins.

She strode up the stairs with the twins behind her, barely able to contain their laughter. When they were sure that she was out of earshot they started to laugh, leaning on each other for support. They instantly earned curious stares, most of them wondering what the heck was going on.

"What did you two do to her?" Harry asked. Fred and George wiped away their tears, still leaning heavily on one another.

"Nothing…yet…"

In that moment, everybody froze when a piercing scream echoed down the stairs. Their eyes instantly went to the staircase, the screams becoming muddled and a roaring noise ringing in their ears. Hermione slowly stepped back from the crowd as the roaring grew louder and louder by the second.

"What did you two do?" Fred and George finally stepped back with everybody else when they saw water slowly start to trickle down the steps. Each had a wicked grin on his face.

"You'll see!" George called over to her as the roaring got to an almost unbearable volume. Everybody gasped when a giant wave of brown and yellow slimy water came crashing down the wooden steps, shaking them to their very breaking point. Inside the wave tumbled a very confused and terrified Emerald. Her arms were outstretched in front of her so as to catch herself as soon as she hit the floor. Of course, when she did hit the floor, things didn't go as she had planned in her head. She fell onto her chin, her entire body tumbling on the hard stone floor. Her limbs flailed about in a painful manor, every person in the hallway tense as she landed on the ground with a loud crack and a thud. They waited in silence as she stayed still on the floor, her body barely moving only to take in a painful breath of air. Hermione rushed forward, her feet becoming soaked in the brown puddles that pooled between the stones. She dropped down to her knees and carefully pushed Emerald onto her back. She was barely breathing and there was blood covering the front of her body. Her shoulders and face had been scraped up because of the fall and her nose was clearly broken. Her breathing was slow and labored, not a good sign.

"Quick, somebody help me get her up!" She exclaimed over her shoulder. Ron and Harry rushed to her side, followed closely by everybody else except for Fred and George. The twins watched the crowd gather together and carefully pick up Emerald and take her to the hospital wing. Their mouths dropped in horror as they saw Emerald's hand drop from their grip and a few drops of blood fall to the floor.

"We are gonna be in so much trouble." George muttered as Emerald's body was carried from sight.

"She's not dead…is she?" Fred asked. Geroge shook his head, the brown water seeping between the cracks and finally brushing against their toes.

"Nah, she's probably just…unconscious…"

"Oh yeah, like that's any better." Fred muttered. "Do we have a story? Something to tell Dumbledore when he calls us into his office tomorrow?" George thought for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.

"Eh, I'll come up with a story by tomorrow…like we were drugged or something." Fred nodded.

"Good plan."


	4. Let's Do It

So just as they had assumed, Fred and George were called to Dumbledore's office early the next morning. Professor McGonagall was there in the common room bright and early to take them to his office. It was obvious from the sour look on her face that she was not happy. If looks could kill, the boys were sure that they would be dead and buried. She grabbed them by the arms and hauled them down to his office, forcing them inside and slamming the door behind them without a single word. By that time, news of the infamous prank had spread throughout the school. Some thought it to be brilliant while others…well, most, found it to be harsh and definitely not Fred and George's best work.

Dumbledore motioned for them to sit down, never looking up from a few papers spread across his desk. The boys sat silently and awaited nervously on what their head master was going to say. He took a few moments to gather his papers, the moments passing with sheer anxiety for the twins. He never looked up at them or acknowledged them as they sat there. His eyes merely remained on the paper that sat before him.

"Do you know the extent of harm that your prank has caused Ms. Shepherd?" He asked, finally looking up at them and crossing his hands. The boys stared at him with blank stares, showing that they obviously had no clue as to what he was talking about. "Along with numerous cuts and bruises, she has sustained a broken ankle, a broken wrist, and a broken nose that had to be reshaped for the bone to grow again." His eyes narrowed. "What on earth could have possibly possessed you to do something so horrific to somebody I'm sure you two barely know?"

Fred and George stared at Dumbledore blankly, their well thought out excuse caught in their throat. They couldn't recall a prank that had gone so horribly wrong…well, this prank hadn't gone wrong, it had just ended up seriously injuring somebody other then themselves. Fred thought of Emerald, sleeping in one of the hospital beds with her body bandaged. It was a pathetic sight and only made the guilt that he felt worse.

"I think six months in detention would suit you both well, cleaning cauldrons and doing whatever else Professor Snape needs you to do in the dungeon." George bit his lip to keep himself from groaning. The pair absolutely hated Professor Snape, finding him to be the spawn of the devil in every way. They were working on comparing the two, hoping to find a link and exploit it for all the money they could get. Working with him would be like their own personal hell…of course, that was probably Dumbledore's intention. "You're lucky that I haven't contacted her parents."

"Why?" Fred suddenly blurted out. Dumbledore stared at him, silently asking him what made him thing he had permission to speak?

"She asked that her parents not be contacted." He said simply. "It's lucky for both of you, her parents are two very…powerful political figures that you two do not need to get involved with." Both boys nodded, not daring to ask another question. "Before the week is out, I want you separately to go and apologize to Ms. Shepherd. I have told Madame Pomfrey that you have my permission to visit her." George furrowed his brow together.

"Why separately?"

"Because I don't want you two apologizing and then blaming it on some ridiculous excuse…like you got drugged and were forced to do it." George leaned over to Fred.

"Have we used that one before?" He asked quietly. Fred shrugged his shoulders.

"Twice…but who's counting?" Dumbledore asked, leaning back in his seat. "Now go, you two have class."

As they walked out, Fred wasn't sure what to think. He was inwardly torn on what to think or feel about the whole situation. What started out as an innocent 'welcome to school prank' had turned into something that had hurt somebody. Was he a bad person for helping with this? His brother didn't seem to feel a bit bad for what they had done, so it confused Fred as to why he felt so bad. It didn't make sense in his mind. Every time he thought about Emerald, seeing her on the stone floor with her face covered with blood, his stomach twisted in knots and he felt like he was about to throw up. Half way through his potions class, he couldn't take thinking about her anymore. Even with Professor Snape screaming at him to sit back down, Fred walked out without listening to a thing that his teacher was spitting at him. He rushed up the stairs and wound around the school until he finally got to the hospital wing. When he walked in, he saw Emerald at the very end of the row of beds with her good hand holding up a large hard cover book. He was instantly blocked by Madame Pomfrey, who stood in front of him with her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed.

"Shouldn't you be in class young man?" She asked. Fred peered over her shoulder to see Emerald look up from her book when she saw some actual movement.

"Um…Professor Dumbledore asked me to come and…speak with Emerald, you know, about the…accident." Her eyebrow slowly rose as she stared at Fred.

"Yes, I heard about that. You and your brother pushed a little too hard this time." Fred furrowed his brow together.

"But…we didn't do any pushing." Madame Pomfrey shook her head.

"I'll give you ten minutes, but then you have to leave…I have to serve lunch and I will not allow you to throw me off schedule." Fred quickly nodded and Madame Pomfrey slowly stepped aside. She watched him approach Emerald with narrowed eyes, but finally went back into her office. She kept the door open to hear the conversation and was ready to jump up at any time should things get too heated.

Fred sat down next to Emerald, but she refused to look up at him. Her eyes remained focused on her book, angrily flipping the page. She was irritated that Fred was still sitting there even though she clearly didn't want him there.

"Hi Emerald." He finally said, staring at her with wide eyes. Emerald pursed her lips together, still looking at her book but finding it incredibly hard to read her book.

"You've got some balls coming here." She said after a frighteningly long silence.

"I just…wanted to say…"

"Dumbledore made you come here, didn't he?" She asked bluntly. Fred hesitantly nodded.

"…Yes." Emerald sighed.

"Okay, please apologize and leave." Fred sat silently, his mouth hanging open as she leaned back and finally stared at him. Her face was horribly scraped with black circles under her eyes. She hadn't slept and it was possible that she had been crying.

"I'm sorry for doing something so horrible to you…" He said, letting his eyes drift down to the floor and his head hang. Emerald stared at the top of his head, suddenly letting out a heavy sigh.

"You're not the first…but you are the first to apologize...even if you were forced." Fred instantly glanced up.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you realize how many schools I've been to in the last few years?" Fred shook his head. "I'm always the new kid that everybody has to pick on. I'm used to pranks, but you guys went over and above the expected 'welcome to school, new kid' prank." He tried to hold it back, but Fred couldn't help but smirk.

"My brother and I are kinda famous for pulling off the best pranks…sorry again." Emerald shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess I'm used to it…I just haven't been this hurt before." She held up her wrist wrapped in a neon green cast.

"Why did you move around so much?"

"My parents." She replied simply. "They're good will ambassadors for England to America and we haven't stayed in a city for more than eight months. The last city we lived in was Seattle…we fit in so well there; lots of hippies." She sighed, her eyes glancing over towards the window. "Now we're back and we probably won't be going anywhere else. My grandmother's sick and my father doesn't want to be too far away from her." Fred let out a heavy sigh.

"Look, I'm really sorry about this whole thing…it's making me sick to my stomach."

"It's called guilt, most normal people feel it." She said simply. Fred slowly nodded.

"I know, I'm a bad person." He muttered. Emerald giggled, the first real smile that she had cracked since Fred had arrived.

"So how are you going to make this up to me?" She asked, finally putting her book down and giving Fred a good hard look. He stared before shaking his head and blinking a few time.

"Uh…what?"

"How are you going to make this up to me?" She asked again. "You've been an ass and you broke my wrist and ankle, so how are you going to make this up to me?" Fred ran a hand over his face.

"Uh…well…I don't know, what do you want?"

"I want you to feel as stupid as I did when I came crashing down the stairs. I want to humiliate you…and I want to humiliate your brother." Fred stared with a blank face before he smirked like a mad man.

"All right, let's do it!" Emerald raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" She asked. Fred quickly nodded.

"I mean, I have always wanted to pull a prank on my brother...and it would seriously piss him off if he knew that you were the one to pull the prank." For the first time, Emerald offered him an honest smile.

"All right...I look forward to it."


	5. Honey, Honey

I know that you're all reading the story...you know that I can check stats, so why are you not reviewing? Do you just not like the story? Seriously, that hurts my soul. Please, be a wonderful person and review this story. It would make me ever so happy!

It wouldn't be long before Emerald and Fred had planned a humiliating, yet classic prank. It was one where the boys wouldn't find themselves in a completely humiliating situation, but this prank would make sure that Emerald would never be forgotten. While Fred knew that he was sure to feel the harsh sting of mocking laughter, it almost seemed worth it to see such a happy smile on Emerald's face. He knew that it was weird, but he looked forward to the time that they spent together planning their prank. She was always so eager every time he suggested a new idea and it made his heart skip a beat. It was…strange and hard to explain what he was feeling. A girl had never made him feel like this before; he'd never been so nervous or felt so awkward while talking with her. Despite how awkward he was, she would just smile and lean forward with a secret or a joke heard from America. To put it simply, Emerald was sheer delight in Fred's almost routine life.

When the day came to finally pull their carefully planned prank, both twin and girl were equally nervous. It was the simplest thing that Fred had ever come up with, but the thought of pulling a prank on his brother was one to make his palms sweat. The fact that Fred would have to endure the same prank as his brother had crossed his mind and had just as quickly left. It didn't seem to matter that he was going to be humiliated. If it was going to make Emerald smile and giggle, having his classmates laugh at him almost seemed worth it. They sat at opposite sides of the Gryffindor table one Saturday morning. There was a planned trip to Hogsmede, so most students were eagerly eating their breakfasts and quickly leaving to make it outside in time to leave. Emerald was sitting with her hippie friends while Fred sat with his brother and their usual crowd. They would steal random glances at one another, always smirking before quickly looking away. Both were patiently waiting for their cue, which they knew had to come very soon.

They both suddenly jumped when George slowly stood up with a long stretch.

"Come on, let's go." He said after a long yawn. Fred nodded, slowly standing up with his eyes focused on his brother. George furrowed his brow together.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He asked lazily, rubbing his eyes of any left over sleep. Fred shrugged his shoulders, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Nothing, just…nothing." George stared at his brother a moment before looking away and slowly heading down the length of the table. Fred followed across from him, trying to act as casual as possible as his eyes continuously went to his brother. Of course George noticed and quickly got annoyed with his brother's constant looks. He quickly stopped and wasn't surprised when Fred copied him.

"Dude, are you on crack or something?" Fred took a step to the side and mentally smirked when his brother did the same.

"No…haven't taken or smoked anything in at least three days." He took another step to the side, slowly easing his way over towards Emerald. She watched them both with careful eyes and a nervous lip tucked under her front teeth. The twins were moving closer and closer and it would really be only a matter of seconds before…well, you could guess what was going to happen.

"Then what the hell is wrong with you…and why do you keep moving to the side?" Fred just shrugged his shoulders.

"I like the breeze." George rolled his eyes.

"You're such a spaz."

With the next step George took, he instantly stopped with his jaw dropped and his shoulders rising up next to his ears. Everybody grew silent as Fred and George stood absolutely still as a sweet smell slowly filled the Great Hall. George was the first to react, quickly slicking back his hair with his face beet red.

"What the fuck?" He asked angrily. Emerald bit her lower lip to keep from giggling as Fred pushed his hair aside and gently licked his fingertips.

"It's honey." He told his brother. George slammed his foot as he tried to wipe himself clean.

"No shit! I know that it's honey dumb ass!" He exclaimed. "Who's got the balls to pull this?" His head whipped around to view the people sitting with their eyes wide and their jaws dropped. For as long as they had remembered at their time at Hogwarts, nobody had ever attempted or dared to prank the Weasley twins. Nobody had even dared to think about pranking them. Whoever had done this, even if it was just dousing them with honey, was about to be torn to shreds by George. Many were a bit surprised to see Fred acting calmly while his brother stood freaking out. Emerald stared up at George with a huge smirk on her face.

"You know George, the funny thing about honey is that it's one of the hardest things to get out of hair…clothing…it's just hard to get out of anything…looks like you've got some work to do…have fun with that." She said with a smirk. George's nostrils flared out as he and Emerald just stared at each other. She broke the stare with a little giggle. "You look like you're about to bust a blood vein in your face."

"It's because I am!" He screamed angrily. George disappeared from the room while Fred stood with a small smirk on his face as the honey slowly started to dry. Emerald noticed him and quickly popped up from her seat.

"Come on," she whispered. "Let's go get you cleaned up." They walked out together, but not without the eyes of everybody in the hall upon them. Emerald and Fred didn't know it, but by the end of the day, everybody in the school would hear the rumor that Fred Weasley was dating Emerald Shepherd. Of course, by the end of the day, it wouldn't be a rumor.

Fred and Emerald rushed up the stairs to the nearest bathroom with the biggest smirks on their faces. They had done the impossible; they had pulled a prank on George. True it was the simplest bloody thing that they had thought of, but they had still done it. They burst into the bathroom with loud laughter escaping their lips.

"Did you see the look on his face?" Emerald asked excitedly. "I've never seen somebody so pissed off, and I lived in America!" Fred smirked as he ran his hands under the sink.

"George just likes to over react." He told her. Emerald took a towel and soaked it under the faucet.

"Here, let me help." She said gently and slowly began to wipe off his face. He closed his eyes as she ran the towel over his forehead and nose. The echoing splash of water drowned out any other noise and calmed the pair. Emerald simply wiped off his face before leaning over to squeeze the honey from the towel. Fred suddenly grabbed her wrist and made her drop the towel, her eyes going up to meet his. "Fred…?"

They stared at one another, the splattering water fading into the background. He pulled her closer by her wrist and gently kissed her. It was only a soft touch to the lips, but it was enough to send shivers down each of their spines. Despite the fact that Fred was covered in honey, Emerald wrapped her arms around his neck and hungrily pressed her lips against Fred's. They stumbled against the sink and Fred pressed as hard as he could against her. She whimpered as he hauled her up and sat her on the sink. She whimpered, but suddenly pulled back with a little giggle.

"What's so funny?" He asked, letting himself smirk as she kept giggling. She glanced down between her legs before looking up at Fred, still giggling.

"There's honey…everywhere." She said. Fred glanced down and smirked widely.

"Yeah…I guess there is."

"You should probably go and take a shower." She suggested. Fred looked up at her.

"Looks like you need one too." Emerald smirked.

"How about we take one together?" She asked with a sensually raised eyebrow. Fred's jaw dropped.

"Are you serious?" He asked. Emerald scoffed, slipping down to the floor and edging past Fred. She tossed the towel into the garbage can and picked up a new one to start cleaning off her skirt.

"Hell no, but we should go out some time." She glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you think?" She asked. Fred slicked back his hair, only to have it slop over to the side.

"Yeah…that'd be great." Emerald smiled.

"Do you think that George will be pissed?" She asked, a troubled work suddenly crossing her face. Fred thought for a moment. His brother was already pissed off thanks to their prank and them dating wouldn't help matters. Fred wanted very much to be with Emerald, but he didn't want to alienate his brother.

Fred shook his head and smiled brightly at her, earning an equally brilliant smile from Emerald.

"No…I'll talk to him, things will be fine."


	6. Date the Hippie, See if I Care

THANK YOU ETERNAL SILVER FLAME!! First review and you're now officially my new favorite person, kudos to you. How about some of you other kids follow in Silver's footsteps and review too? Hippies, Harry Potter, what else do you want? There will be raunchy stuff later if you haven't already picked up on that. I love you all, please review...

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Fred sighed as he watched George aggressively pace back and forth. He leaned against his bedpost as George went back and forth, as if on some magnetic path. Needless to say, the news about him going out with Emerald had not gone over well.

"Seriously, the bitch covered us with honey."

"Hey!" Fred exclaimed. "To be fair, we broke her nose and her wrist and she hasn't complained to us once."

"Yeah, to us! She's probably talked lots of shit about us to her hippie friends."

"If you think about, we kinda deserved it."

"Lucky for me, I don't think too often." George proclaimed happily. Fred shook his head.

"It's just a date, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that she just dumped like a bucket of honey on us today. Don't you care?"

"It was really simple and childish…but she did manage to pull a prank on us and that's saying something." George stared at the back of his brother's head as he moved to his bed and pulled back the covers.

"I have a feeling that she wouldn't have been able to do it without help…" He suddenly slammed his fist against a random bed post. "You helped her, didn't you?"

"I felt bad for her…" Fred muttered.

"What is there to feel bad about?"

"We fucking broke her wrist and nose! We humiliated her in front of a ton of people and…"

"We've done that to dozens of other people, why should we care about her?" He asked angrily. "You've liked her from day one, haven't you?" Fred didn't know how to answer. He simply stared at his brother with a raised eyebrow. George shuddered, sinking down onto his bed. "Ew, she's a hippie!"

"That's got nothing to do with anything!" Fred yelled back.

"But she's a hippie!"

"It's not like she has a disease!" George let out a heavy sigh and stared at his brother with narrowed eyes and his arms crossed.

"Still…she's a hippie."

"It's just gonna be one date." George quickly shook his head.

"No, just you watch! First it starts with this date and then you go on another date and then you go on another date and then…you get married." Fred furrowed his brow.

"That's what you're worried about?"

"When you marry her, you leave me!"

"That's what you're afraid of?" Fred asked.

"If you ditch me, then how the hell are we gonna keep pulling pranks…how are we gonna start our joke shop?" Fred raised an eyebrow.

"Are you jealous of Emerald?" He asked. George pursed his lips together, looking away.

"I'm not jealous…"

"You are jealous of Emerald!"

"Stop acting like a fucking pussy and leave me the fuck alone!" He exclaimed angrily. Fred sunk into his bed.

"I'm not a pussy." He muttered.

"So says the man that's fallen for a hippie! Next thing you know you'll be a vegetarian…with dreadlocks…" Fred slowly shook his head.

"You're pathetic." George popped out of his bed, leaning heavily on Fred's bedpost.

"Fine, go on your date and have a fucking good time, but when you can't remember what meat tastes like and your skin turns green from all the vegetables, don't come crying to me." Fred glared up at his brother before smirking slightly.

"Dude, we're totally acting like chicks…" He remarked. George's stone face instantly faded to a small chuckle.

"Yeah, totally weak." He pushed away and walked back to his bed. "Go on your date, I don't care." He muttered as he crawled into bed and pulled the covers over his head. Fred scoffed as his brother faked sleep.

"You're such a bad liar."

"I said that I don't care and I don't! Go out with Emerald and fucking have fun!" Fred rolled his eyes as he himself pulled up his blankets and sunk down into his bed. While he felt bad about pissing off his brother, he was ecstatic that he would get to go on a date with Emerald. Then it suddenly hit him: he had no idea what he was going to do with her. He couldn't take her to Hogsmede, they had been a few times already this year so that wouldn't be too much fun. The Shrieking Shack was obviously out of the question…it was used for one thing and Fred wasn't looking to do that…yet. He could always take her somewhere on his broomstick, but that thing was a piece of junk and not worth the time to fly around on. He flopped his head down on the pillow and let out a heavy sigh. Fred could tell that this was not going to be an easy problem…

Later that week, when Friday night had arrived and Fred was nervously waiting for Emerald to come downstairs, he still hadn't come up with a good idea. Nothing seemed right. Nothing seemed to fit the impression that he wanted to make on Emerald. When she finally came downstairs, his heart was beating so hard that he was sure that it would just give up. Emerald's appearance didn't help much either.

Emerald came downstairs wearing something that he hadn't expected. She was wearing a moss green spaghetti strap empire waist dress that went just above her knees. Fred didn't know what to call the embellishments all over the dress, that was a word that a girl would more than likely know. Her hair had been slightly curled with small, tight braids intertwined in the curls. He was shocked to see that she wasn't wearing her classes, but had cleaned her face with the slightest touch of makeup to accentuate her eyes, now sporting a pair of shiny contacts. She carried a small woven bag and her feet were wrapped in shell embellished sandals. To put it simply, she looked stunning…and that wasn't helping Fred's awkward situation.

She trotted over to him happily with a wide smile on her face, her bag hanging at her side.

"Hey." She said, her smile widening if that were even possible. Fred's palms instantly started sweating and the words caught in his suddenly dry throat.

"…Hello." She giggled innocently.

"Are you feeling alright?" Fred quickly nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine…you look wonderful…that's a really pretty color on you." Emerald smiled at him and quietly thanked him, but she couldn't' help but stare at him with a raised eyebrow, obviously not convinced.

"You're sweating at an unhealthy rate and I'm a little worried." She commented. "Do you want to reschedule?" Fred instantly shook his head.

"No!" He exclaimed. Emerald nodded as she noticed that Fred slowly started to calm down.

"Okay…so what are we doing tonight?" She asked, her excitement suddenly back. "I hope it's something fancy, because I'm wearing a dress…"

"Um…what do you want to do tonight?" Emerald's smile instantly dropped.

"You didn't plan this at all, did you?" She asked. Fred nervously shook his head.

"Nope…not even a little." He admitted sadly. To his surprise, Emerald laughed.

"Okay, first off, calm down. You're way too nervous and it looks like you're about to have a seizure." Fred smirked.

"I wouldn't do that to you." Emerald nodded.

"Good, I was not in the mood to make another trip to the hospital wing." Fred chuckled. "So you have no idea what to do tonight?" She asked. Fred shook his head.

"I was too nervous to plan anything because I was afraid that you would hate it." Emerald rolled her eyes.

"For the love of God…" Emerald muttered. "Okay, hold on, I need to get a sweater, it's going to be very cold." She instantly rushed up the stairs while tossing her bag onto the couch.

"Where are we going?" He asked after her. She mumbled something over her shoulder before disappearing back into the dorm room. Fred would only have to wait a moment before she reappeared with a large red sweater in her hands. She pulled it over her head and picked up her bag.

"Ready?"

"I would be if I knew where we were going."

"Oh sorry, I said that we're going to Bellingham." Fred's eyes widened as she walked past him to step out of the portrait hole and into the open hallway. Fred followed after her closely, but with guarded concern.

"Bellingham?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Where the hell is Bellingham…I've never heard of that…is that like a bar or something?" Emerald shook her head with a little giggle.

"It's a town in Washington and it has the best hookah bar that I've ever been to." Fred suddenly stopped.

"You smoke hookah?" He asked. Emerald glanced at him over her shoulder with a smirk.

"I love hookah." She said. There was a seductive underlying tone in her voice and it sent chills up Fred's spine. There was a sparkle in her eyes that he had never seen before and it excited him. Emerald was suddenly smooth and seductive with the sway of her hips and the way she tossed back her hair. All of a sudden she had become very desirable, but Fred didn't have the slightest idea as to how to keep her for himself.

Emerald stared at him as he stood dumbfounded in the hallway. She suddenly held out her hand to him.

"Are you coming?" Emerald asked. Fred suddenly snapped out of his trance and quickly ran up to her. Hesitantly, he took her hand and she surprised him by intertwining their fingers. They walked hand in hand down the hallway and wound around the castle until they reached the front entrance. Emerald suddenly stopped him and grabbed his other hand with a heavy sigh. "You're going to have to have confidence, I've never done this with another person before." Fred raised an eyebrow.

"Done what?"

"You know…the disappearing thing…oh fuck, what's it called…never mind, I've never done it with another person so hold on tightly." Before Fred could object, Emerald closed her eyes and their feet lifted off the ground. Fred didn't feel like he was losing any body parts; so far, so good!

Wind swirled around them until they were finally let down in a dark alleyway. Emerald slowly opened her eyes, licking her lips eagerly.

"Did we make it?" She asked, glancing around.

"I think so." He muttered. Fred couldn't help but notice that they were still holding hands. His heart sunk, though, when she let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around herself to keep herself warm. Fred suddenly shivered. She was right, it was cold. He shivered even harder as they walked out of the alleyway and onto the almost abandoned streets. There were a few lone teenagers walking around with their hands shoved in their pockets and their voices low. Fred looked around, the expression on his face reminding Emerald that of a lost puppy.

"So, what do you think?" She asked, reveling in the warmth of her sweater. Fred shivered, keeping his hands in his pockets and slouching slightly to try and keep himself warm.

"It's so cold…" He muttered. Emerald laughed.

"I told you that it would be."

"Fuck, it's colder than back home." Emerald laughed again.

"Maybe somebody should have brought a sweater."

"Maybe somebody should have given me time to grab a sweater."

"Well maybe somebody should have planned this date a little better." Fred narrowed his eyes.

"Touché…"

They strolled down the sidewalk, Fred following Emerald carefully as she led him down street after street. She walked easily, the expression on her face showing him that she knew exactly where she was going. Fred followed her closely with his eyes darting to the people around the street. They were all young, sporting dreadlocks and wrapped in handmade scarves.

"What's up with everybody?" He asked. Emerald laughed.

"They're all university students, this is a college town, hence the hookah bar…oh, and there's a piano bar!"

"Piano bar…?"

"It's like a pub with people dueling on pianos…it's really funny when they're drunk and attempt to play a sonata…" Fred smiled as she giggled to herself.

"Do you miss living in the states?" He asked. Emerald mulled over his question.

"Sometimes I miss it…but most of the time I don't. There's no place like London." She glanced up at him. "One of these days, I'll take you to Seattle and then you can meet a real hippie."

"But I thought that you were a hippie." Emerald scoffed.

"Hardly, there are hippies that are far worse than I…more dreadlocks, believe in eating all natural stuff."

"Aren't you a vegetarian?" He asked. Come to think of it, he had never seen Emerald's exact diet. Most of the time, she was at the other end of the table and he wasn't always paying attention. Emerald's entire body shuddered.

"I hate vegetables…the very thought of eating nothing but vegetables makes me sick…I like bacon too much to be a vegetarian." Fred laughed.

"I'll keep that in mind."


	7. Hookah A Gift to Hippies

Where's the love people? Seriously...

By the end of the night, Fred had gotten his full share of the college lifestyle. After a quick stop at the hookah bar, Emerald impressing him with her knowledge of hookah, she dragged him back out into the freezing streets of Bellingham and trotted him around town, taking him to party after party. They would play a quick game of beer pong, mingle with friends, and then disappear out the door to bounce off to another house or apartment. Their parties finally came to a stop at three in the morning, when both Emerald and Fred had had their fill of beer and hookah. She was leaning heavily against his shoulder, her words slurring slightly as she spoke.

"Oh boy…I think that I'm drunk." She muttered against Fred's shoulder. Fred chuckled, feeling the same drunken stupor swirling around his head.

"Me too." He said a bit too loudly. She instantly clasped her hand over his mouth with a little giggle.

"Shh!" She exclaimed. "You have to keep quiet…it's three in the morning!" He laughed, pulling away her hand.

"I know that it's three in the morning!" He exclaimed. "Look, I wear a watch!"

They managed to stumble their way back to the alley that they had arrived in. Emerald leaned against the alley wall with a devilish smirk on her face. Fred leaned his arm above her head, his face extremely close to hers.

"I'm sorry that I'm drunk on our first date." She whispered, seeming to suddenly sober up. Fred shrugged his shoulders.

"It's okay…we're both drunk." She smiled slightly as she let out a heavy sigh.

"Do you think that we should head back now?" Fred thought for a moment, leaning his forehead against hers.

"You know that George is just waiting for me to come back." Her smirk widened.

"What does he expect to hear?"

"I won't be much good to him drunk." Emerald smirked.

"You're not much good to me drunk." He leaned closer to her face, his eyes staring keenly into hers.

"And what should we do to sober our drunk asses up?" He asked as he raised his right eyebrow suggestively. Emerald giggled, pushing against his shoulder.

"I'm not doing that!" She said with a huge smile. Fred rolled his eyes.

"How about some coffee?"

"You know that actually doesn't work, caffeine and alcohol should never be mixed, it's bad for your nervous system." Fred furrowed his brow together.

"Is that true?" Emerald scoffed.

"Hell if I know."

She suddenly reached out and took both of his hands. They stood there for a moment before she glanced up at him with a small smile.

"We need to go back." She whispered. Emerald didn't give him a chance to answer. Within the blink of an eye, she had transported them back to Hogwarts; more specifically, she had brought him back to his room. Shockingly, George was fast asleep, but it was clear that he had been waiting up. There were three cups of coffee by his bed and a candle was just weakly burning on his bedside table. Fred stumbled to the bed, quickly collapsing on top of the covers with a heavy sigh. Emerald stared down at him with a small smirk, letting out a loud yawn.

"Okay, goodnight." She muttered, turning to go back to her room. Fred shook his head, holding out his hand.

"No sense in waking the girls up…just stay with me." She stared at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" She asked. Fred nodded, leaning forward slightly and pulling her into the bed and onto his chest.

"You're drunk, you'll wake everybody up." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled up the blankets. She was instantly wrapped around him, letting out another heavy sigh as she closed her eyes.

"Goodnight Fred." She whispered. He smirked slightly to himself as she gently rubbed her shoulder.

"Goodnight Emerald."

When George woke up the next morning, he knew that he was bound to be bombarded with questions. Who's that? Why is there a girl in your bed? Why do you smell like beer and weed? All of these he had expected. What he didn't expect was that every boy in his dorm, his brother most of all, would be crowded around his bed in utter silence. That was the odd sight that greeted him when he woke later that morning. He groaned, squinting his eyes as he felt Emerald still curled up at his side. She was literally a ball under his arm with her face buried in his chest. George stood with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

"You're a man whore." He stated plainly. There was a small snicker of laughter while Fred rolled his eyes.

"Shut up." He muttered.

"You were out all fucking night and you brought her back here to fuck her…" Fred instantly popped out of bed.

"I did not fuck her!" He exclaimed. The sudden movement shook Emerald and a small groan escaped her throat. Her eyes slowly opened and she blinked a few times before she focused on Fred. She didn't seem to notice anybody else, only Fred. She smiled and slowly pushed herself up.

"Good morning." She whispered sleepily as she gently rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Fred couldn't help but smirk as she tucked her knees under the skirt of her dress.

"Good morning." George said for him. Emerald whipped around with wide eyes to see at least a dozen boys staring at her. In record time, her face turned a brilliant red that would challenge her own red sweater. She quickly grabbed said sweater before stealing a quick glance at Fred.

"I'll see you later." She whispered before rushing out of the room, leaving Fred to fend for himself.

"That was rude…she didn't even say hi." Fred shook his head.

"You scared her away." He said as he slid off of his bed and pulled off his shirt from the night before. "Besides, I thought that you hated her."

"I do, but the least that she could do is be civil."

By this time, the other boys had distributed throughout the room to go about their Sunday activities. Some quickly dressed and abandoned the room for the outdoors while others pulled out piles of homework that would sadly be due early the next morning. George had Fred cornered, though, and he wasn't going anywhere until he had heard every single detail of what had happened last night.

"Spill, tell me what happened." Fred scoffed.

"No way." George raised an eyebrow.

"What the fuck?" He asked angrily. "You have to tell me what happened!"

"Says who?"

"Come on, quit being a pussy and tell me what happened."

"I'm not being a pussy and all we did was go smoke some hookah and go to a few parties." George furrowed his brow together.

"She smokes hookah?"

"Yes, in great quantities." Fred could tell by his brothers reaction that he was impressed. George followed him closely as his brother pulled on a plain tee shirt and left the Gryffindor commons to head to the bathroom. George was intrigued

"Well…I guess, she is a hippie after all."

"She's not a hardcore hippie…I met a lot of those last night and she is the furthest thing from them."

"Dude, stop being such a lying pussy." Fred let out a heavy sigh, leaning over the bathroom sink.

"I'm not lying. I'm not crazy. I'm thinking perfectly clear and I really like her. So stop calling me a lying pussy, just stop calling me a pussy all together, and deal with the fact that I'm gonna go out with her again." Fred let out another sigh, suddenly feeling very proud of himself for even saying anything. George stared at his brother with his brow furrowed together and his arms lazily folded.

"I told you that you would go out with her again." He said simply. Fred rolled his eyes.

"Yes, you're a fucking psychic, now get the fuck out of here so that I can take a shower."


	8. Tell the Hippie I Said Hi

I'm starting to get a little offended by this you guys. I can see from my stats that you are reading, but I'm hurt that nobody's reviewing! Do you guys just not like the story? If you don't, I'll just take the story down and focus my attentions on another story that I've got rolling around in my head. Come on, show some love and send me some reviews. I don't care what you say, just review. I'm getting really hurt and starting to think that you just don't like it...I feel like I'm being used...show me some love!!

Oh, and keep showing love for Sing Sweet Nightingale, Evie would love it!

So Emerald and Fred did go out again. That date was followed with another date and that date was followed by another date and that date was followed by another date. By the time that Christmas holiday rolled around, they were officially deemed boyfriend and girlfriend. If you were to ever look for the new couple, you would usually find them tucked away in small corners in the library while Emerald read Fred Shakespeare. He had discovered his sudden love for the author and happily shared it with Emerald. If anything, it was another thing that they had in common. There were very few similarities between them, but those were the things that they chose to focus on. They could also be found curled up in the Gryffindor common room without a word passing between them, their eyes focused on various books. She introduced him to classics as well as the newest books of the year. Emerald was an avid reader and it brought her great happiness to see that Fred was so willing to share her passion.

It was the day before the students were to leave on the train for their homes when we would find Emerald and Fred in their secluded spot in the library. She was perched on the windowsill, snow falling behind her as she read quietly 'Twelfth Night.' Fred sat on the floor, staring up at her with his back supported by a creaking book case. She suddenly stopped reading, her eyes glancing over the book to stare down at him.

"I think that we should stop for today." She muttered before marking her spot and closing the book. Fred merely nodded, not wanting to press for more of the story. She had been reading for the past two hours and he didn't want to tire her out. "So, excited to go home?" She asked with a small smile. Fred scoffed.

"Hardly. There are going to be way too many people at our house this year…as usual." Emerald shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess that's what you get when you have a big family."

"Hey, it's not like I asked to have seven brothers and sisters. My mom and dad just…wouldn't stop." Emerald giggled.

"I'm an only child…my parents adopted me because they couldn't have children." Fred raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't know that you were adopted." Emerald nodded.

"My birth mother was a druggie and my birth father…well, I don't know who he is. My mother died a few days after she had me from blood loss and when they couldn't find my father or any other member of my family so they sent me to an orphanage and then…Josh and Heidi found me." Her smile softened as her memories traveled back. "I think I was four…they adopted me in the spring and we've been traveling the world ever since." Fred smirked.

"Do you call them mom and dad?" He asked curiously. Emerald quickly nodded.

"Of course, they're the only parents I've ever known." Her face suddenly lit up. "You should meet them." While her face remained bright and cheerful, Fred's face turned fearful.

"Meet them…?"

"Yeah, it'll be great!" She exclaimed happily. "You can come stay for a few days, they would love to meet you!"

"I don't know Emerald…"

"Don't worry about it, you'll just stay for a few days…it'll be like having a sleepover, only…you'll get to spend the night with me." Fred devilishly smirked.

"In the same bed?" Emerald shrugged with a huge smirk.

"If you play your cards right, it's a definite possibility." He chuckled.

"I might be tempted to come over and spend a few days with you…where do you live?"

"Well…my grandmother lives in Oxford."

"I asked you where your parents live."

"I know…we're living with my grandmother right now. She's very sick and they've been staying with her until…you know." Fred quickly nodded, not needing her to finish her sentence. "So will you come and visit me?" Fred thought for a moment before quickly nodding.

"Yeah, sounds like fun." Emerald quickly slipped down from the windowsill and wrapped her arms around Fred's neck.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed happily. "I promise, you'll love it at my house!" Fred smirked as he returned the embrace.

"You owe me." He muttered.

"How?" She asked, pulling back slightly with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh don't worry…I'll think of something." Emerald smirked and rustled up his hair.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you."

Fred and Emerald both left the next day, going their separate ways knowing that they would meet up in a few days. When Fred got home, his mother wasn't too happy that he was coming home only to leave just as quickly. He tried to explain the situation, but that still wasn't helping.

"I just don't understand why you don't want to spend time with your family." She whined as she pulled out the third roast of the day. Fred leaned against the kitchen counter as his mother rushed past him time after time. His brothers and sister sat at the kitchen table, watching Fred talk his way out of spending a few days away from his family for his girlfriend.

"Emerald really wants me to come down and meet her parents." He insisted.

"Meet her parents? You haven't been dating this girl a terribly long time, don't you think it's a bit too soon to meet her parents?"

"You're being old-fashioned mom." He muttered. "Besides, if I go, there'll be more time for people to use the bathroom."

"He's got a point." George interjected. "He is a bit of a bathroom hog." Fred rolled his eyes.

"Come on, it'll only be four days. I'll be back for Christmas and everything will be fine. Come on mom...she's my girlfriend..." Molly stopped her rushed cooking, leaning against the kitchen counter with a hand on her hip. She had a stern look on her face, but there was a glint in her eyes that led Fred to believe that she was willing to negotiate.

"So her parents get to meet you, but we don't get to meet her?" She asked, her eyebrow slowly rising. Fred shrugged his shoulders.

"You'll get to meet her too…eventually…"

"What he means is that he's too embarrassed of us to introduce the rest of his family to her." George shouted from the kitchen table. Fred pursed his lips together as his siblings giggled.

"Okay…compromise?" He asked. Molly swiftly nodded and went back to chopping her vegetables.

"You can go spend your four days with her, but after Christmas she comes back and spends New Years with us." Fred raised an eyebrow.

"That's it?" He asked. "She just has to come back for New Years and you'll let me go?" Molly nodded.

"That's it." She repeated. "Deal?" Fred eagerly nodded.

"She'll love to come down." He said happily. Fred cast a quick, gloating glance towards George.

"Want me to say hello for you?" He asked smugly. George narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah…tell the _hippie_ I said hi…"


	9. Fine We Won't Make Out

So I am super happy that a few people have replied, but I still feel that there could be a bit more a response. Show me some love people, I'm using the time that I could be studying to write this story!!

WTF, show some love...

The minute that Fred was given the go-ahead, he hopped a train and literally flew down to Oxford. He had never been so excited and nervous at the same time. While he was excited to spend a whole week with her without the interruptions of school or being social, he was mortified at the thought of meeting her parents; or worse…her grandmother. From the few things that Emerald had said about her, her Grandmother Kathleen was, to put it simply, a hard ass. She was judgmental and always commenting on Emerald's appearance. Emerald had warned him that while he would be staying with them, she would look much different. She had jokingly implied that she couldn't let her grandmother see her as a hippie; it would probably give her heart failure.

When Fred arrived at the Oxford station, he found that there was somebody waiting for him, his name on a sign and his bag already in his hands. Fred marveled at the expertise of the man, having retrieved his bag so quickly. They quickly shook hands before Fred was escorted to a rather large black car. The back door was opened for him and they spent the entire ride in silence. It gave Fred a good opportunity to look around. The countryside in Oxford was lush, rich, and green; it almost looked like emeralds were sparkling in the grass, nestled at the very roots. White fences lined the sides of the road while horses galloped on pieces of private property. Emerald lived in a fairytale land and he was curious to see why she hadn't mentioned it before.

The driver pulled them up to a mansion of epic proportions. Fred's jaw was still hanging on the floor when the door was opened for him. There were massive columns supporting the dome roof that covered the house. A large door, decorated with Tiffany's glass sparkled in the afternoon sunlight. The house was painted a harsh white, almost too bright in the sun. The house towered above the acres of green land that surrounded it. It was a monstrosity of ingenious architecture.

As soon as Fred had stepped out of the car, his bag handed to him by the driver, the two front doors flew open and Emerald came running down the front steps. There was a great big smile on her face, only accentuated by the fact that her hair had been pulled back so tightly. He didn't even have time to grab his suitcase. Fred opened his arms as their two bodies came crashing together.

"You're here!" She exclaimed happily against his shoulder. He chuckled as he picked her up off the ground slightly.

"Did you think that I wouldn't show up?" She pulled back slightly so that she could face him, but she kept her arms tightly wrapped around his neck.

"No…but it doesn't change the fact that I'm happy to see you." Fred gently kissed her before setting her back down on the ground. The driver slowly carried his bag up the front steps with Emerald and Fred a good twenty paces behind him. He kept his arm wrapped around her shoulders while her arm was wrapped around his waist. They held each other like that, smirking and whispering quietly to one another. Fred knew that this was going to be a glorious four days, despite the fact that he would be forced into awkward situations with her parents and grandmother. Right now, that didn't seem to matter. All that mattered was that they were together.

As they walked up the stairs, they were greeted by what seemed to be a familiar face to Emerald. A tall man stood waiting in the doorframe, his graying red hair slicked back slightly. This must have been Emerald's adopted father, Josh. He was a handsome man, but as Fred had expected, he looked nothing like Emerald despite the similarity in their hair color. Emerald greeted him, but didn't leave her tight embrace with Fred.

"Hi dad." She said happily. He smiled warmly at her before turning his attention towards Fred.

"Well, you must be Mr. Weasley." He said, extending a hand to Fred. "It's very nice to meet you, especially since Emerald's talked about nothing else in her letters. It's good to put a face to a name." Fred smirked.

"Thank you…sir…"

"Please, call me Josh, there's no need for formalities here…except where my mother is concerned, Mrs. Shepherd would suit her very nicely."

"Same goes for my mom, just call her Heidi." Emerald told him with a little smile.

"What's this?"

A woman suddenly emerged from the house, wrapping her arm around Josh's waist in a similar fashion to Fred and Emerald. He could only assume that this was Heidi, Emerald's mother. She wasn't as Fred had pictured. When he heard the name Heidi, he had expected a very tall woman with long blonde hair and a brilliant smile. The woman that stood before him, though, was quite the opposite. It was very clear that Heidi was an Indian woman, wrapped in a delicate green sari. There was a great difference in height between Josh and Heidi. She stood just under his shoulders with her black hair parted down the center and pulled back into a loose bun. Her skin was very light, reminding Bill of the most delicious caramel. Her smile was dazzling and her eyes sparkled with a golden tint in the sunlight. She was so…beautiful…

"Are you all talking about me?" She asked in her proper British accent. Fred quickly shook his head with the thought that he was in trouble.

"No…Heidi." He quickly said, remembering to keep things casual with Emerald's parents. All three laughed at his sudden tense attitude while they all stayed relaxed.

"So this is Fred." She said with a huge grin. "I'm very happy to see that you've come all the way to Oxford, welcome to our home." She outstretched her hand to shake Fred's. She smelled of fresh cut flowers and a warm kitchen. The pair motioned for them to come inside and Fred and Emerald closely followed.

"So…when do I get to meet your grandmother?" Fred asked in a low whisper.

"At dinner tonight." She replied quickly in a low whisper. "You'll have to 'dress properly', though…she's very old-fashioned and prefers that everybody dress for dinner and for you, that means wearing a suit."

"…I didn't bring one." He answered with sheer terror in his voice. Emerald giggled.

"You can borrow one of dad's, he has dozens." Fred looked at the man in front of him and grimaced slightly.

"He's a lot taller than me." Emerald shook her head.

"Did you forget that I'm a witch?" She asked. "I can fix the suit for you, it's not a big deal."

Josh and Heidi showed Fred upstairs and down a long corridor to his room. It was bigger than his house and, thankfully, it was very close to Emerald's room. After exchanging a few polite words, both dispersed to separate parts of the house to continue what they were doing before Fred arrived. Emerald plopped down on his bed while he started to unpack his suitcase.

"Are your parents magical too?" He asked as he examined the vast space that he had for his meager clothing. Emerald shook her head, pushing her shoes off with her heels.

"Nope, just me." She replied. "They think that my father was a wizard…but they haven't told me a whole lot about my parents other than what I've already told you. I think that they're just trying to hide something from me…or protect me…I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders. Fred smiled at her as he unloaded all of his things into one humongous drawer.

"I'm sure that they would tell you if you asked." He said, coming to sit down next to her. Emerald quickly shook her head.

"No, they don't like it when I ask about my real parents. I think that it hurts them too much." Fred wrapped an arm around Emerald's shoulders and pulled her close, pressing his lips against her temple.

"It's probably a good thing then that you don't say anything." Emerald nodded.

"I know."

She twisted her head up to quickly return the kiss, pressing a hand against his chest. The sunlight poured into the room as she pushed him back against the bed, holding her tightly to his chest. Neither wanted to let go; both wanted to stay intertwined in this wonderful twist of afternoon intimacy. She suddenly gasped, pulling away from his eager lips and letting out a little sigh. Emerald brought control to the situation as they laid in each others arms, their breath tickling each other's noses. She suddenly smirked, staring up at him with her wide eyes.

"We have to be careful." She whispered, brushing aside the hair that had come out of her bun. Fred raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" Emerald rolled her eyes.

"I'd rather not have my parents catch me making out with you, you know, so that we didn't end up in an awkward situation for the next four days." Fred smirked.

"Probably a good idea." He muttered, leaning back down to kiss her again. Emerald giggled, but turned her head to the side to let Fred's lips connect with her cheek.

"Come on, we have to go find you a suit." She said, popping up from the bed and holding out a hand. She helped him to stand, but not without receiving a quick peck on the cheek. "No kissing in front of my parents…and in front of your parents when I come to stay next week." Fred rolled his eyes.

"Fine…we won't make out…"


	10. You're Engaged?

More reviews please, thank you to all those that have reviewed!!!!!!!!  I love you like you have no idea!!!!!!!

Fred shifted nervously in his seat as the tie claimed a personal vendetta around his neck. He cleared his throat to try and ease the uncomfortable silence, but that didn't seem to be doing much. All four sat uncomfortably silent on either ends of the large dining room table. The head of the table had obviously been set for Emerald's grandmother. On her right was Josh while Heidi was on her left. Emerald sat next to her mother while Fred sat next to Josh, who had done little to ease the discomfort of the situation. They waited in awkward silence for the main guest to arrive and according to Fred's watch, she was ten minutes late.

Fred couldn't help but notice how awkward they all looked. Fred and Josh were dressed in suits, Josh's was black while Fred's was a deep navy. They both wore silver ties tied extremely tight to the point of suffocation. Emerald and Heidi weren't fairing much better. Heidi had changed out of her colorful sari and wore a forest green dress reminiscent of the 1950's. The neck was high with a short cap sleeve and her hair in the same bun as earlier. Emerald wore an empire waist dress that was a pale gray and a turtle neck loosely around her delicate neck. She had put her contacts in and had pulled her hair tightly back, showing off every detail of her face. To complete everything, a string of pearls was draped casually around their necks, nestled in the fabric of their clothing. Everybody's faces were straight and everybody looked fairly pissed off.

Josh glanced down and checked his watch, letting out a heavy sigh and looking up to meet everybody's gaze.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "She's later than usual." Heidi warmly smiled.

"It's all right, she'll come down eventually." Fred mentally rolled his eyes.

'It can't be that hard to make it down a flight of stairs, can it?' He mentally thought to himself. He looked up to see Emerald staring at him with a little smile on her face.

"Sorry." She mouthed. Fred merely shrugged his shoulders, as if to say that it was all right. She smiled at him before they all perked at attention when they heard a set of doors slowly sliding open. Fred's eyes widened. Did they have a bloody elevator in the house? He would have to check that out later, when he wasn't stuffed into a suit and being choked to death.

The three family members rose to their feet and Fred quickly scrambled up to join them. He only heard one set of footsteps and another sound that sounded like…wheels. He furrowed his brow together as a tall man pushing a proudly sitting woman in a shiny wheelchair to the head of the table. There was no doubt that this proud woman was Emerald's grandmother. As soon as she had situated herself in her chair and had nodded, everybody else sat down. Fred was surprised when everybody remained silent while they too placed their napkins on their laps.

"Emerald, I see that you're finally wearing the pearls that I gave you." She said, the words coming from her lips robust, yet shaky. Emerald politely nodded.

"Yes grandmother, they're very beautiful, thank you." Fred raised an eyebrow. Her tone was much quieter and softer than what he was used to. In fact, looking at her now, it appeared as if her entire demeanor had changed within the blink of an eye.

"And Heidi, your pearls look lovely as well. I don't think that any proper woman can exist without a fine strand of pearls." She said with a bright ring in her voice. Heidi nodded with that same, polite smile as a large bowl of soup was individually placed in front of each person.

"Yes mother, how very true." She smiled in almost a cocky manor before she turned her attentions to Josh and Fred.

"Joshua, who is this…boy?" She asked, the happy ring suddenly gone from her voice.

"Mother, this is Fred Weasley…the boy that's here to stay with us…don't you remember me telling you?" The woman eyed him with a raised eyebrow.

"I do not recall being informed about this boy staying with us, in my home." She said, her voice becoming suddenly harsh. Fred sunk back in his seat slightly, desperately wanting to disappear.

"Mother, there's no need to be harsh. Fred's traveled…"

"Fred? Is that your name? Speak up young man." Fred suddenly straightened up, her strict voice nearly scaring him to death.

"Y-yes ma'am…my name is Fred Weasley." He said with as much confidence as he could muster. The woman nodded, her lips pursed together slightly.

"Well, Fred Weasley, my name is Kathleen Shepherd and you are welcome in my home…" She suddenly glanced over at Josh. "Why exactly is he here, Joshua?" His mouth opened as if to answer, but nothing came out. Josh sat in his seat with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"Well…mother…"

"Fred's my boyfriend." Emerald suddenly spoke out. "He's come to stay with us for a few days over holiday and I'm going to stay with his family for New Year's." Kathleen's head whipped around to stare at her granddaughter with pure shock on her face.

"You are too young to be dating, Emerald!" She exclaimed. Fred mentally smirked. This woman really was old-fashioned, it was almost shocking.

"Grandmother, I'm eighteen, it's fine for me to be dating. Besides, Fred's a really nice boy, you would really like him if you took the time to get to know him." She said, pushing away her soup with a loud sigh. Fred sat nervously, his eyes flicking from Emerald to her grandmother. The air was thick with the impending battle that was about to take place.

"I have not approved of this boy, you are not allowed to associate with him." She said strongly.

"But that's not fair!" Emerald shot back. The two seemed to be at war with each other instantly, but Josh swooped in to try and salvage the dinner conversation.

"Mother, please try not to be upset." Josh said, reaching out to take Kathleen's hand. "Fred is a very nice boy and…Emerald is very fond of him." Kathleen retracted her hand and rolled herself away from the table before the servant suddenly appeared and took over rolling her wheelchair.

"I am not hungry anymore." She said, keeping her eyes away from the family. She was rolled out of the room and back into the elevator where she disappeared upstairs. Emerald kept her eyes down, letting out a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry Fred." She said, picking up her head with her eyes focused on him. He shook his head, trying to wipe the sad look from her face. Fred had never seen her look so disappointed before, it was almost troubling to see her so upset.

"It's okay, I understand." He said meekly.

"You'll have to excuse my mother." Josh commented. "She's very old-fashioned and doesn't approve of people choosing who they date…she wants Emerald to have an arranged marriage like she had." Fred's eyes widened.

"You can't be serious." Emerald nodded with a small smirk.

"There's a lovely Irish boy waiting for me, his name is Kent and he enjoys playing chess and rugby…oh yes, he's a wizard. Grandmother made sure of that." Fred furrowed his brow together.

"So none of you are magic…except for Emerald?"

"No, Emerald's the only one that's so specially gifted." Heidi said, love clear in her tone. Fred smiled slightly.

"So you're engaged? When were you planning on telling me this or was I just a toy for you to play with until you got married?" Emerald giggled.

"Sorry, thought I'd get this whole boyfriend thing out of my system before I got married." Fred laughed.

"You know, not many people enjoy being used like that." He reminded her, waging his finger as if to scorn her. Emerald shrugged her shoulders.

"I know, but I have a feeling that you'll get over it."


	11. So You're Just Horny?

After that, dinner had finished much smoother than it had started. The food was good enough, but Fred couldn't focus so much on the things that he was putting into his mouth. His thoughts were lingering on tonight. He knew it was bad, especially to be thinking about this while her parents were around, but he couldn't help it. Fred would be the first to admit that he hadn't always been so lucky when it came to girls. They never took him seriously. He was just the prank kid with the twin brother who humiliated kids whenever he felt like it. They didn't see any point to actually dating him; only becoming his friend with the motivation of never ending up on the bad side of his pranks. Emerald was the first attractive girl to ever look past that. Plus, Fred had serious needs. There was only so much that could be achieved with lotion. And Emerald was right there…and so willing! He didn't care if her parents were right down the hall; Fred was not sleeping in his bed.

He was eager to get back to his room during the after dinner conversation. They had taken themselves to the front sitting room where a roaring fire was waiting for them. A tea tray was also waiting for them with a fresh pot steaming in the center. Emerald and Fred sat on the couch, but kept their distance. It wasn't really ideal to cuddle up in front of the parents. In the middle of the conversation, Emerald had slipped him a small note that he only got a quick opportunity to look at.

'Come to my room later tonight, we'll do some reading.' His face instantly turned bright red as he tucked the note into his back pocket. She kept her smile subtle, but the glint in her eyes was clear to him. When they had all decided to go to bed, Fred went straight to his room and literally threw off his clothing. He changed into his pajamas and waited eagerly for her parents to go to bed. Once he heard the lights click off, he gave them at least fifteen minutes before quietly sneaking out of his room and down three doors to lightly knock on Emerald's door. It was instantly opened, as if she had been waiting for him. He was quickly pulled inside and the door was instantly shut behind him. Fred quickly turned and let out a shaky sigh when he got a good look at her. She had taken her contacts out and pulled her hair into a bouncing ponytail. Her feet were bare with her legs covered by a pair of pink and black checkered pajama pants. The thing that really had Fred drooling was the tee shirt she wore. It was tight…and she wasn't wearing a bra…

She smiled at him widely before taking his hand and leading him over to the bed. She curled up on her bed and instantly reached for her book, but Fred stopped her with a kiss. Emerald giggled, shaking her head as he held onto her tightly.

"…Can't…breath…" She muttered against his lips. He pulled back, but kept his forehead pressed against hers. "What's gotten into you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, her hand going once again for her book. Fred sighed, leaning back against the piles of pillows on her bed.

"…It's just…I haven't really…" Emerald raised an eyebrow.

"You haven't what?" She asked. Fred bit his lower lip, nervously glancing away from her.

"I've never really…been with a girl." He said, peeking back over to her. Emerald's reaction was not one that Fred had expected.

"I've never been with a boy." She stated plainly. "So I guess we're on pretty fair playing grounds." Fred smirked.

"That's a relief."

"Does it matter?"

"I don't know what I'm doing." He muttered. Emerald took his hand and arranged him in a way so that she could lean against his chest with his arm around her shoulders.

"Let's just read and…we'll take it from there." She said, gently kissing his cheek. Fred nodded and watched her open the book to where they had left off.

"Where were we?" He asked, nestling against her body. Emerald flipped a few pages before her face was forced into a grimace.

"Oh…we're almost done…" She muttered.

"We've still got 'Hamlet' to finish." He whispered excitedly. Emerald smiled as she settled on one of the last pages.

"Good madam, hear me speak,

And let no quarrel nor no brawl to come

Taint the condition of this present hour,

Which I have wonder'd at. In hope it shall not,

Most freely I confess, myself and Toby

Set this device against Malvolio here,

Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts

We had conceived against him; Maria writ

The letter at Sir Toby's great importance;

In recompense whereof he hath married her.

How with a sportful malice it was follow'd

May rather pluck on laughter than revenge;

If that the injuries be justly weigh'd

That have on both sides pass'd."Fred furrowed his brows together as Emerald slowly turned the page and opened her mouth to read.

"What?" He asked before she could speak. She shook her head with a little giggle.

"Fabian just confessed that he, Toby, Anthony, and Maria just tricked Malvolio into thinking that Maria liked him." It took a moment before he quickly nodded.

"Oh, got it." He muttered. Emerald smirked as she leaned her head back on his shoulder. Fred had been having some trouble understanding Shakespeare's words, but at least he was asking questions and wanted to understand. She was pretty sure that he had become addicted to Shakespeare, even though he couldn't understand what he was saying.

"Olivia: _Alas, poor fool, how have they baffled thee!_

Clown: _Why, 'some are born great, some achieve greatness,_

_And some have greatness thrown upon them.' I was_

_One, sir, in this interlude; one Sir Topas, sir; but_

_That's all one. 'By the Lord, fool, I am not mad.'_

_But do you remember? 'Madam, why laugh you at such_

_A barren rascal? An you smiled not, he's gagged.'_

_And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges._

Malvolio: _I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you_."Fred leaned his face into the crook of Emerald's neck, gently kissing her skin. His breath tickled her, making her giggle as she flipped to the last page.

"Stop that." She whispered.

"Make me." He shot back, pulling her closer and kissing up her neck to under her ear.

"Do you want me to finish this or not?" She asked, trying her best to shrug away his constant advances.

"Can't I just guess how it ends?" Emerald quickly shook her head.

"No, you have to listen." She scooted away from him, propping the book up with a few pillows and looking between her pages. Fred pursed his lips together.

"You're no fun." Emerald smirked.

"I will be if you let me finish my book." She said, glancing up at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Fred instantly sat up straight, crossing his hands in his lap.

"Please, continue." Emerald laughed.

"Duke Orsino: _Pursue him and entreat him to a peace:_

_He hath not told us of the captain yet:_

_When that is known and golden time convents,_

_A solemn combination shall be made_

_Of our dear souls. Meantime, sweet sister,_

_We will not part from hence. Cesario, come;_

_For so you shall be, while you are a man;_

_But when in other habits you are seen,_

_Orsino's mistress and his fancy's queen_."Emerald shut the book with a dreamy look on her face, leaning against the cover and waiting for Fred to say something.

"What did you think?" She finally asked, watching the thoughts play out on his face.

"It was…interesting…" He muttered. Emerald raised an eyebrow with a little smirk.

"Just interesting?" She asked. "What did you think or Orsino? Of Viola? You must have some opinions." Fred glanced up at her with a wide smirk.

"You remind me of Viola." He said sweetly, the look on his face making Emerald blush.

"You remind me of Malvolio." She said. Fred's jaw dropped.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"But he's a whiny, horny, brown noser!" He exclaimed. Emerald thought about it for a moment.

"Well, except for the brown noser part, I'd say that it's a pretty good description of you." Emerald giggled as Fred jumped from his spot and tackled her to the bed, letting the book slip quietly to the floor. He held her hands above her head, pressing his lips against her cheek and slowly kissing back to her ear.

"I am not whiny either." Emerald quirked an eyebrow.

"So you're just horny?"

"Basically…"

Emerald quietly laughed as he let go of her wrists only to slowly run his hands down her body in the most torturous of ways. Emerald wrapped her arms around him, nuzzling her face against his neck and stretching her head up to gently bite his earlobe.

"How quiet can you be?" He asked before eagerly pressing his lips against hers. Emerald whimpered, squirming underneath the weight of his body.

"I don't have to make a sound…but is that how you really want it to be?" He pulled back, resting on his elbows and running a hand through her hair. She instinctively pushed her head up to press harder against his hand. It was all Fred could do to not lean down and kiss her.

"I'll have you any way that you're willing to give yourself to me." He said before dipping his head down to lightly kiss her, pulling back almost as quickly as he had dipped down. She smiled widely as she took his face in both of her hands, pulling him down to her.

"Then I'll be quiet."


	12. Then I Did My Job

Show some love and review...I've been noticing that there have been a good number of readers from the UK, which makes me super happy!!!!!!! UK, I love you and I want to move over there one of these days and live there perminantly.

Okay, so this is how I wanna wake up one of these days. Don't understand? You will in a minute...

Fred awoke the next morning tangled in white crisp sheets with a pair of slim arms wrapped around his waist. It took him a moment before he remembered where he was and what had happened. He instantly smirked, sinking down into the bed beneath him. There was a groan beside him and instantly stopped moving as the grip around his waist became tighter. He looked down, moving his arm slightly. Emerald was buried in her white comforter, her auburn hair red in the morning sunlight. It was a mess above and around her face as she pushed her face closer to his skin. Her eyes quickly opened as she felt a pair of eyes staring down at her.

"Good morning." She said, her voice groggy. She cleared her throat and slowly sat up, roughly rubbing her eyes before reaching for her glasses. She didn't bother to cover herself and Fred was all the more thankful. He stared, seeing that she had become extremely perky despite being out of the blankets only a few seconds.

"It is a good morning, especially when I get to look at those." Emerald smirked as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail before sinking back into Fred's arms.

"I'm tired." She whispered.

"You just woke up." He reminded her quietly, gently kissing her forehead.

"I know…but to be fair, I didn't get much sleep." Fred smirked.

"Then I did my job." She laughed, pushing against his side.

"No perverted jokes until I fully wake up." She groaned out, turning onto her side with her back towards him. He pulled back the blanket slightly, gazing at the smooth, pale plane of her back. Fred kissed her shoulder, pressing up against her warm skin.

"I love you." He whispered into her ear. He couldn't see it, but Emerald smiled widely.

"Do you?" She asked, turning to face him. "And not just because of last night?" Fred shook his head.

"I love you." He repeated. She curled up against his chest, their noses barely touching.

"I love you too."

"So…can I ask you something?" He asked. Emerald furrowed her brow together.

"You're not going to ask me to marry you, are you? Because if you are, let's just wait a bit, okay?" Fred shook his head with a smirk.

"I'm not asking that, I wanted to know…does this mean that we can have sex whenever we want?"

"You mean have sex whenever _you_ want?" Fred slowly nodded.

"Pretty much." Emerald snorted.

"I don't know why you want to, I'm not any good."

"Well that's a lie if I ever heard one!" He exclaimed possibly a little too loudly. Emerald shook her head.

"How would you know if I'm any good? You've never done it before."

"Well neither have you." He said. "I could tell from last night." That remark made Emerald blush.

"You shouldn't say things like that."

"We've had sex, but I can't talk about it?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. Emerald gently pushed on his shoulder, her blush staying strong on her face.

"Come on Fred, it's too early to talk about it."

"When are we going to talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about?"

"How much we liked it…you did like it, right?" Fred asked, panic suddenly in his voice. Emerald quickly nodded.

"Yes…I liked it a lot…" She admitted quietly. He pulled her against his chest.

"Then it's fine to talk about it." He told her. "And the fun part about this is that we can sneak up to your yoga room and…do it." Emerald scoffed.

"Do it…"

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"I don't know, I just think it's kinda weird how you said it."

Emerald slowly pushed back the huge comforter, sliding out of bed and rushing through her dresser drawer to try and find something to wear. Fred stayed in bed with his hands behind his head, enjoying the view.

"I could get used to this." He muttered. Emerald shook her head as she slipped on a pair of boy shorts and a contrasting bra. She then picked out a pair of loose sweat pants and a simple grungy tee shirt. Fred's happiness started to fade as he started to forget how she looked naked.

"Well, are you just going to sit there all day or are you actually going to get out of bed?" Fred smirked.

"I'm still considering my options." He said, trying to pull back the image of her dashing across the room naked. It was a good picture, but he was working hard to keep it present in his mind. She grabbed his hand, yanking him forward and forcing him to stumble out of bed.

"Come on, time to get up." She demanded, her eyes flicking down before returning to glance at him with a small blush. Oh yeah, she was checkin' him out. Fred started to gather his clothing from the night before as she kept her eyes occupied with anything that she could find. He put on his pajama pants and shirt before quickly returning to Emerald's side. He hugged her tightly, kissing her forehead and running his hands down her back.

"I'm gonna go take a shower, breakfast in a bit?" He asked into her hair. Emerald nodded, pulling back to look up at him.

"Sounds perfect, I'll see you in a few."

Fred left the room with a soft click and his feet padding across the cool marble floors. He hadn't guessed it, but it was still early in the Shepherd estate. The events of last night were still playing in his mind with the best clarity that he had ever seen. It send shivers down his spine, remembering even the smallest noises that she had made. They had kept it quiet, but a few whimpers and lithe moans had managed to escape their lips. Oh fuck, now he had to take a cold shower…fuck…

Fred rushed through his shower, quickly calming himself before getting dressed and joining Emerald downstairs. She had also showered and was dressed in a pair of jeans and a tee shirt with a yellow sari wrapped around one shoulder and around her waist. Her hair was half pulled up and her glasses shined in the kitchen sunlight. He simply wore jeans and tee shirt without the slightest idea of the design on his shirt. She stood at the counter, holding a bowl of cereal and slowly eating it with a vacant expression on her face. She perked up the instant that Fred walked through the door and pushed the large cereal box towards him.

"Want some?" She asked. Fred smirked, picking up a bowl and serving himself.

"I come all the way here to this gorgeous mansion with probably a dozen servants, and I have to serve myself cereal?" Emerald smirked.

"We prefer to do things ourselves around here. We only have a driver, a man servant for grandmother, and a special chef that makes dinner for her specific diet." She took a huge bite of cereal, chewing very slowly. "Besides, then we don't feel so bad about having such a huge house."

"I thought you said that this house belonged to your grandmother." He said, pushing himself onto the kitchen counter.

"My grandmother's not exactly a young spring chicken." She muttered, staring down at her feet.

"Well that's a lovely sentiment." Emerald glanced up at him, her eyes suddenly hardening.

"You tell me how I'm supposed to love somebody who constantly judges me and tells me that I'm no good?" She asked harshly. "She's never liked me…they specifically got a red headed baby just so that it would look like my father, and she still wasn't happy…"

Emerald suddenly stopped herself, shaking her head.

"I shouldn't say anything else." Fred was suddenly no longer interested in his cereal.

"Don't stop." He said quietly. Emerald's eyes softened, but she simply shook her head.

"Maybe some other time." She said before finishing off her cereal with a loud slurp. "In the meantime, how about we do a bit of riding?" Fred raised an eyebrow.

"Riding?" Emerald nodded.

"Yeah…horseback riding. You do ride, don't you?" Fred did his best to wipe off the look of shock and just shrug his shoulders.

"Yeah, of course." He said, sticking his nose in the air and eating his cereal as if nothing was wrong. Emerald smiled.

"Great, then let's go!"


	13. You Will

"So you lied?"

Painfully, Fred nodded. Emerald smirked as she watched him wince, even though he had only moved slightly.

"It's possible." He muttered. Emerald shook her head, getting up and gently fixing the pillow behind his head. They had gone out riding, just as Emerald had insisted, but Fred hadn't exactly had the best of luck. While trotting along a trail, far behind Emerald, he had fallen off of the horse and onto the rocks that they were slowly weaving through. He had fallen on his ass before sliding down to the ground with a loud groan. Needless to say, Fred was not getting laid tonight in the condition that he was in.

Emerald ran a hand down his cheek before reaching up to smooth the hair away from his face.

"You should have told me that you didn't know how to ride." She said. "I love riding around the rocks, it's the best place to really get in a good ride." Fred winced as he adjusted himself slightly, staring up at her.

"Why would you ever intentionally get on that thing for more than five minutes?" Emerald giggled.

"You only ask that because you have never ridden. If you were a true rider, you would have hopped back on your horse and went for a gallop through the fields…actually, if you were a rider, you wouldn't have fallen off of your horse in the first place." Fred smirked, but there was still pain on his face.

"Fine, rub it in, I'm a loser." Emerald shook her head, sitting down next to him and pulling her knees to her chest.

"You're the furthest thing that I know from a loser."

Fred shrugged, bringing on a whole new rush of pain. Emerald watched him quietly ride it out before continuing on with the conversation.

"What do you think your parents will think of me?"

"My dad probably won't stop bothering you because you live with muggles…you know…"

"Non-magical people, I know." She smirked. "Just because I was raised in a non-magical home doesn't mean that I don't know the slang." Fred smirked.

"Sorry, sometimes I forget."

"It's all right." Emerald quickly told him. "And what about your mom? Will she like me?" Fred bit his lower lip. That wasn't exactly an easy question to answer. His mother was very picky and you had to be very careful around her, especially if you were new.

"Well…my guess is that she'll like you right away, but…" Emerald raised an eyebrow.

"But what?"

"I'm afraid that while I've been here, George's been saying some awful things about you." Emerald raised an eyebrow.

"Would he actually do something like that?" She suddenly shook her head. "What am I saying? Of course he would, it's your brother…come from the bad side of the uterus." Fred laughed, but instantly winced at the sudden movement of his body. She ran a hand across his cheek, instantly soothing him and almost forcing him back against his pillow. "Don't worry, I'll dazzle her when I go. Your mother won't remember a thing that your brother tells her…I'm amazing like that, I know." She crawled to the bed, curling up at his side, but keeping her distance so that she wouldn't hurt him any further. Fred forced himself to wrap an arm around her shoulders, despite the fact that it hurt tremendously.

"You'll be fine, after a while she'll probably stop believing all of George's bull." Emerald smiled.

"So she'll like me?" Fred instantly nodded.

"If I like you, she'll like you." Emerald sighed.

"Good to know." Fred kissed the top of her head before slowly smoothing down her hair. There was no need to be scared about Emerald meeting his parents. They would love her, despite whatever George had told them. The worse story that he could think of was that she was a hippie and smoked hookah…which wasn't a bad thing…but still, anything that you smoked was drugs to them. They would just be thrilled that Fred was spending time with somebody other than his brother. Plus, she was a girl, and his mother wanted nothing more than fifty dozen grandchildren as soon as possible. That wasn't the first thing on Fred's mind, but it was dancing a little Irish jig around in the back. Marriage was a little bit closer, but sex was flashing around like a neon sign in his eyes. He sighed, pushing away the thought and kissing Emerald's head again.

"No need to worry." He muttered.

"Let's be honest, if my parents liked you, your parents are bound to adore me." Fred raised an eyebrow.

"Are you implying something missy?" Emerald snorted.

"Of course I am, do I really need to explain myself?" Fred sighed, shaking his head.

"No, I get it, you're better than me." Emerald sighed, slowly pushing herself up from the bed and carefully straddling his hips. Fred raised an eyebrow, but didn't object as she ran her hands up his chest.

"You seem so down…" She whispered. "What can I do to make you feel better?" She asked, her eyes flicking over towards him with a devilish smirk. Fred's mouth went dry as he stared at her, the words caught in his throat. His mind was screaming at him to say something, anything at all that would send her into action. What the fuck was wrong with him?

"Um…" Emerald giggled, pushing up his shirt and slowly starting to kiss down his chest.

"Um, is that all you can say?" She asked, stretching up to gently kiss him. "Of course, we don't have to talk…if you don't want to…" Fred shuddered slightly, the adrenaline coursing through his body at an alarming rate.

"Emerald…"

"Well that's a start, at least you remember my name." She undid his pants, pushing them down slightly. "Let's see what else you can remember." Fred's jaw dropped.

"My favorite color is green." He stuttered out. He instantly kicked himself for saying something so stupid. Emerald suddenly stopped what she was doing, looking up at him with a goofy grin.

"Green?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Fred let out a heavy sigh, muttering some profanity under his breath. "I wouldn't have pictured you as liking green."

"Can we just…?" Emerald raised an eyebrow.

"Can we just what?" Fred swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Can we just get back to whatever we were doing?" Emerald smirked, resting her chin on Fred's now quivering stomach. She was so damn close…

"And just what were we doing?" She asked, the seductive tone extremely obvious.

"Oh God, please don't make me say it…" Emerald slowly sat up, sitting with a big smile.

"You're the one that wanted to talk about it earlier!" She exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips.

"Emerald!" He exclaimed, pressing his head against his pillow out of frustration. "You can't do this now!" Emerald quirked her head to the side.

"Well somebody's anxious." She muttered. Her smile only widened as Fred's scowl grew. "You're injured, we shouldn't." She said, sliding off of the bed and walking away from Fred. He went out to grab her, but groaned as soon as he did.

"You're no fun!" He exclaimed, sinking down into the bed. Emerald smiled, glancing back at him.

"I have a feeling that you'll get over it." Fred pursed his lips together, angrily crossing his arms and looking away from her.

"No I won't, I will never get over this." Emerald smiled with her head innocently quirked to the side.

"You will…"


	14. I Broke His Nose

Sadly, in only a few days, Fred left the mansion in Oxford and returned to his crowded house. It was a remarkable difference from the large house to being crowded into his bedroom back with his brother. George was none too happy when Fred came back, his cheeks a bright pink and a huge smile on his face.

"You fucked the hippie, didn't you?" Fred rolled his eyes, but didn't deny anything. George started gagging, falling to the floor and rolling around in disgust. "Ew! I'll bet she smelled like cabbage!" Fred pursed his lips together, but didn't say anything. He simply unpacked his things, putting them all in their proper places and quickly going downstairs for dinner. His mother was bustling around with his brothers and sisters sitting around the table. Harry and Hermione had joined the rush of people of course. It just wouldn't be Christmas without those two.

"How was your holiday in Oxford, Fred?" Hermione asked as he sat down across from her and Ron. Honestly, he was lucky to have found a seat at all. He wasn't used to the cramp quarters yet; already he was longing for his king sized bed and large personal bathroom. He had no idea how Emerald was going to adjust to this tight living.

"It was fun…I fell off a horse and got chewed out by her grandmother, but I had fun." They all chuckled as he just shook his head at the memory. "I'm pretty sure that her grandmother hates me because I'm not up to her standards…"

"Don't worry, it's not like it'll matter." Ron said. "You're not gonna marry her…" Fred glanced up at his brother with his eyebrow raised. "You're not gonna…are you…?"

"Dude, I'm eighteen, what do you think?" George suddenly came tromping down the stairs with a harsh look on his face as he plopped down across from Fred. He stared at him, his scowl suddenly going from a scowl to a smirk.

"Did you tell them what else you did while you were there?" Fred narrowed his eyes.

"Don't start." He muttered.

"I'm not starting anything." He said innocently. "I just figured that they would like to know about every detail of your trip."

"You're pushing it, fuck off."

"I believe that's the hippie's job."

Everything went silent as all eyes turned to Fred. Molly dropped the knife that she was using to cut vegetables to the floor, luckily missing her foot. Fred kept his eyes narrowed on his brother, the anger coursing through him at an alarming rate.

"I told you to not start."

"I didn't start anything, it's your fault that you fucked the hippie."

"George, don't use such lan-."

"Her name is Emerald!" Fred exclaimed, slamming his hands on the table. He jerked himself to his feet, knocking his chair back against the wall. George jerked up at the initial reaction, but didn't back down. Both brothers were determined now and there was no way to avoid the fight that would soon ensue.

"Boys, please." Molly said calmly. "Let's not fight while there's company over." Fred slammed his fists on the table again.

"I'm so fucking sick of having to put up with your shit!" He exclaimed angrily. "I'm tired of you bossing me around and making fun of everything I do. You can't get on my case about this! Emerald's mine and I won't let you talk about her as if she were dirt!" George raised an eyebrow.

"You're such a pussy."

That sent Fred over the edge.

He launched himself across the table, knocking George to the floor and punching him square in the nose. George tried to fight back, but the rage that fueled Fred made him ten times as strong. There was already blood pooling on the floor when Harry, Ron, and Bill managed to pull Fred off of George. George made no attempt to come after George. He was content to be helped to sit up and nurse his bleeding and probably broken nose. Fred pushed the three other boys away, instantly launching himself outside and into the woods. Charlie and Ginny led George into the other room where they went to clean and hopefully fix his nose. Molly leaned against the counter for a moment before leaning over to collect her dropped knife. Hermione sat there with a blank stare, both women trying to sort through what had just happened.

"I haven't seem them fight like that since they were boys." Molly muttered. "Only back then, there was no blood and foul names, just a few kicks and slaps before they started crying and begging the other to stop." Hermione smiled softly.

"I've never seen Fred so angry before…George must have really pushed him too far." Molly nodded.

"I was always afraid with those two that one day they would grow so different from each other that they would continuously fight with each other…one of the worries that you have with twins I suppose."

"Emerald's a really sweet girl…quirky of course, but that's what makes her so likeable. Hopefully George won't start anything while she's here…he probably won't if he doesn't want to get killed." Molly nodded with a small laugh.

"You've got that right…"

A good mile into the woods, Fred was stalking with his fists clenched as he stormed past tree after tree. Ron and Harry followed closely behind him with Arthur a good distance behind them.

"Come on Fred, stop for like two seconds." Ron pleaded with his brother. Much to Fred's surprise, he complied and slammed a fist against the tree, his breaths coming out in great heaves. Ron and Harry caught up to him, but kept their distance, not wanting to end up like George.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked. Fred pursed his lips together before glancing up at Harry.

"I'm so fucking tired of his bullshit!" He exclaimed, pointing back towards the house.

"We got that when you punched him in the face." Ron muttered. Fred instantly lunged towards him, but was stopped when Arthur came bursting through the circle.

"Come now, there's no need to start another fight." He said calmly, putting a hand on Fred's shoulder. Fred didn't shrug it away. He let it weigh him down and in turn, it helped him to calm down. He sunk down to the ground, letting out a heavy sigh and running a hand over his face before letting his fingers slide through his hair. Now he was starting to regret the fight that he had just started with his brother. Well, it wasn't really a fight. It was more of him beating his brother down until he was a bloody pulp. Oh fuck, his brother was never going to forgive him for this. He sighed again, massaging the bridge of his nose before looking up at the three men staring down at him.

"I really fucked up, didn't I?" He asked. Ron and Harry both instantly nodded, but Arthur kept a straight face.

"Well, I'm not going to condone what George said tonight, but what you did to him was not the best choice. You broke his nose, but fortunately that won't take much to heal." Fred glanced over at his father.

"Did you hear how he talked about Emerald? And that wasn't the first time!"

"I understand, but you two are going to have to apologize to one another tomorrow morning. We're going to have to get this whole thing sorted before Emerald arrives."

"Oh shit." Fred had completely forgotten about Emerald's visit. She couldn't come here with he and his brother were feuding. He groaned, hiding his face in his hands. "I can't deal with this right now."

"Well you'd better get ready for a fucking explosion." Ron muttered. With instinct, Arthur reached out and smacked Ron upside the head without turning away from Fred.

"Fred, pull yourself together and solve this. You're an adult, please start acting like one." Fred stared up at his father before slowly nodding.

"I understand." He muttered. Arthur nodded, a smile suddenly coming onto his face.

"Good, let's go back to the house then, mom should have dinner ready." The three boys nodded and followed Arthur at a distance so that they could continue on their own conversation.

"Why did you get so pissed at George?" Ron asked, honestly confused. Fred instantly turned bright red, keeping his eyes down.

"You really don't want to know." He muttered under his breath, not wanting to tell his brother anything about his sex life and he was sure that Ron didn't want to hear it.

"Come on, it can't be that bad." Ron muttered. Fred stopped dead in his tracks, staring at his brother with a raised eyebrow.

"We had sex, several times if you want me to be specific." He said with a straight face. "Would you like me to tell you the different positions or should I just let you imagine what we did?" Ron's face instantly went pale, the sickness becoming apparent in his face.

"Uh…no…I'm good…thanks…"


	15. You Know I Spoil You

New Years was only three days away and it was finally time for Emerald to arrive at the Weasley home. Fred had been glued to the front window of his house for the past four hours, waiting patiently for Emerald's car to pull up. She was supposed to be arriving in her grandmother's car, having been driven the entire way. She would obviously be exhausted, and he was looking forward to helping her relax. He wanted to show her his home, show her around the fields and then into the forest…and he couldn't help it if they didn't come back for a few hours…

Fred smirked quietly to himself, but quickly dropped the smile from his face when he heard heavy footsteps come into the room. He didn't bother to turn around to see who it was. He already knew, he didn't need to look…

"Waiting for the hip…I mean Emerald?" Fred mentally sighed, but was happy that at least he was using her name.

"She's supposed to be here soon." He said, keeping his eyes out the window. George muttered something about Fred looking like a fucking dog staring out the window, but he mostly kept it to himself, wanting to avoid getting another broken nose. Fred turned to look over his shoulder, his eyes half lidded with a raised eyebrow. "You're not going to start anything today, right?"

"No." George muttered quickly. "I won't even come around you two, if that'll make you happy." Fred nodded.

"Thanks…it's appreciated." George rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He slunk out of the room, but Fred's attention was no longer on him when he heard a loud engine roar coming from outside. Fred heard a car pull up to the front of the house, but it wasn't what Fred had expected. It was a bright red Lamborghini, a car that most guys would give their right ball to own. He stood at the window drooling for a second before rushing out the front door as the engine shut off. Emerald instantly popped up from the front seat, a wide smirk on her face and a pair of large black sunglasses covering her eyes.

"Look at what I got for Christmas." She said happily. Fred's jaw was down to the ground.

"Oh…my…God…"

"I know!" She exclaimed, jumping up and down. "My grandmother bought it for me…sort of an early graduation gift, but I think she just bought it because Kent likes Lamborghinis and…well, you know, she's trying her best to get me to like him. So far, no success." Fred slowly walked towards the car, hesitantly putting his hands on the hood of the car.

"This is the most amazing car that I've seen in my entire life." He muttered, his eyes admiring the bright red paint job. "And I can't believe my girlfriend owns one." Emerald instantly tossed him the car keys.

"And guess who gets to drive it while I'm here?" She asked, watching Fred cradle the keys in his hands.

"You can't be serious."

"I wouldn't have given you the keys if I weren't serious." She told him sweetly. Emerald sauntered around the car wrapped her arms around Fred's neck while he continued to clutch the keys. "And the best part is that the back seat is surprisingly spacious…plenty of room for two people to do just about anything back there…" That drew Fred's attention away from the keys in his hands. He looked up at Emerald, quickly wrapping his arms around Emerald.

"Back seat, eh?" Emerald nodded with a little giggle.

"Oh yeah…and it's just waiting to be broken in." Fred sighed, leaning his forehead against Emerald's.

"I really wanna do this now…but you have to come inside and meet my mother." Emerald pulled back, gently kissing him before pulling back.

"Great, sounds like fun!" She went skipping off towards the house, not bothering to grab her bags. "I'm hungry, are we going to eat lunch soon?" She asked eagerly. Fred nodded.

"My mom should have everything ready, I hope that you like potato stew." Emerald smirked.

"Well lucky for you I do."

Their fingers eventually intertwined with each other and they held on tightly with wide smirks. They could at least hold hands while they were here. They would save the making out for later. There seemed to be a certain glow around them as they took their time walking to the house. They were in that state of a relationship where everything was perfect. There weren't any flaws with the other person. They had never had a fight and saw perfection with one another. Even though they were both eighteen, they were acting like they were back in grade school.

As soon as Fred and Emerald entered the house, Fred's entire family was on them with a dozen questions. They were all speaking at once, wanting their questions answered first. Molly was at the head of the pack, her motherly smile the only thing that the both of them could see. Emerald sunk behind Fred, keeping a tight grip on Fred's hand.

"Don't be scared." He muttered. Emerald scoffed.

"Too late." She whispered back.

"Okay!" Fred exclaimed. "Everybody back up at least three feet and let us breath!" They did what he said, stepping back and giving Emerald a chance to step out and at least take off her sunglasses. She blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting to the dim light of the house. She looked around briefly and seemed to like what she saw. Fred was instantly relieved as her smile slowly came back, stepping out from behind Fred. She stuck out her hand towards Molly with the slightest quirk of her head.

"Hello, my name's Emerald." She said sweetly. "It's very nice to meet you, Molly is it?" Molly nodded, taking Emerald's hand and lightly shaking it.

"Hello my dear, it's very nice to finally meet you."

Emerald smiled, but suddenly gasped when she was pulled into a tight hug. She was smothered with the dense wool of Molly's sweater, but it was somehow comforting. She smelled like a mother and Emerald absolutely adored it. Emerald wrapped her arms around Molly and let out a little content sigh. Fred let out a mental sigh as his mom went around introducing Emerald to the family.

"This is my husband Arthur, he works for the Ministry. These are my sons Charlie, Bill, you already know George, Ron, and our daughter Ginny. Our other son Percy couldn't be here…Ministry business, he's been so busy lately…we're so happy to have you here Emerald."

Emerald nodded to each person, including George. Even though she knew that he disliked her, she kept the smile on her face and waved towards him. Fred was kind of surprised when he returned the wave, even smiling a little as he did so.

"I'm very glad to be here." Emerald muttered happily.

"You'll be staying with Ginny and Hermione, I hope that you don't mind…Fred told us about your home in Oxford, I hope that you won't be bothered by how small our home is." Emerald quickly shook her head.

"No, I adore your home." Molly nodded, taking her quick excuse.

"Fred will take you up and help you with your things." Emerald glanced over her shoulder towards her car.

"Oh, I forgot my things in my car."

As soon as the boys got distracted by the car outside, they were pressed against the window with drool pouring from their mouth. Their reaction was almost identical to Fred's.

"That's your car?" Charlie asked, his face pressed against the window like a kid before Christmas. Emerald laughed as she walked out the door with Fred closely behind her, not needing to answer the question. They got her bag from the car and Fred showed her upstairs to his sister's room. The instant that she set down her bag, Fred pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips against hers. She whimpered at the sudden force, but didn't pull away. She simply pressed herself against him, pulling at his clothing as if they were about to be separated forever. They were silent, but both of their bodies were burning from the sudden contact. Emerald shivered, forcing herself to pull back.

"I just got here." She whispered. "We can save this for later." Fred shook his head.

"No, I need you now." He emphasized his point by pulling Emerald closer to him. She smirked, shaking her head as she lightly kissed his nose.

"You can wait." She whispered, running her hands down his chest. "We'll go driving later tonight, okay?" Fred hesitantly nodded, but it wasn't like he was reluctant about the whole thing. Of course his parents would let him go, he would raise hell if they didn't, but they might complain about how long they would be gone. Oh fuck it; if he could help it, they wouldn't be back until after New Years. He did force himself to pull away from her, but kept a grip firmly around her waist.

"I spoil you, you know." He muttered. Emerald raised an eyebrow with a little giggle.

"Okay, sure."


	16. All You Can Think About

Their first day was quick and it wasn't long before Emerald and Fred were rushing out of the house with Molly screaming after them. While her screams were loud enough to disturb the entire magical world, Fred and Emerald couldn't hear her.

"Fred! Come back here right now!" She screamed in the doorframe. Emerald laughed as Fred tripped over a loose stone, but he kept running.

"We'll be back in a few hours mom!" He called, not bothering to turn and actually tell her. Molly sighed, resting against the doorframe out of frustration.

"Those two…I don't know what I'm going to do with him." She muttered as she walked back into the house and gently clicked the door shut behind her. Arthur shrugged his shoulders, his eyes remaining on the paper that sat in front of him.

"Hmmm…" He muttered, not really paying attention to the conversation going on around him.

"I think it's sweet." Ginny said as she helped her mother clear the dishes from dinner. "Fred's finally hanging out with somebody other than George…and best of all, he's actually got a girlfriend, something that we all thought would never happen." George scoffed, staring down at his empty place mat.

"Sure…"

The majority of the family remained, save for Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Charlie, who had gone off to have their own conversation about dragons. Nobody was really sure why they were talking about dragons, but they had gone to talk about dragons. George, Ginny, and Bill remained at the table along with their parents. All remained in good spirits, save for a very pissed George. He didn't like Emerald being here or the fact that he had to keep his mouth shut about it. He would be fine if he could just make a snide comment every once in a while, but sadly he couldn't even do that. It was like shaking a bottle of pop and leaving the cap on to let the pressure build. The frustration was about to drive him up the fucking wall. Not to mention the fact that his family wouldn't stop talking about her…he was about to just fucking kill a baby or something drastic like that to get rid of his anger.

"George?"

His head suddenly snapped up when he realized that he had been asked a question. He thought for a moment, trying to remember if he could what he had been asked.

"Uh…"

"Are you even paying attention?" Ginny asked. He honestly shook his head.

"Not really."

"I asked you what you thought of Emerald?" George pursed his lips together, letting out a heavy sigh through his nose.

"Do you want an honest answer?"

"Oh George, stop it!" Molly exclaimed as she walked behind George and smacked him upside the head. "Emerald is a sweet girl and she makes your brother happy."

"He's only happy because she puts out." Everybody gasped, turning to George with shocked eyes.

"George!"

"Well it's true!" He screamed, pushing up from the table. "She's a hippie vegetarian, Shakespeare thumping freak and she's gotten her claws into Fred!"

His family stared at him with pure shock as he slammed the table, finishing his rant. They hadn't realized how upset George really was over this. It was clear by the anger in his voice and the fire in his eyes that he truly despised Emerald. They didn't know what to say and they didn't know what to think; the only thing that was clear to them that for the rest of Emerald's trip, George would have to be kept away from her for fear of something drastic happening.

"I don't want you ruining things for Fred." Molly told him, voicing what everybody was thinking. "I've never seen him so happy before and you won't ruin this for him…I want grandchildren just like every other normal woman with seven children!" She exclaimed, tears spilling from her eyes. George let out a heavy sigh and sunk back down into his seat.

"I'm sorry, mum." He muttered, keeping his eyes down. Molly shook her head, slowly sitting down with a small whimper. "I'll stay away from Fred and Emerald…forever…" Bill rolled his eyes.

"Stop being such a drama bitch." He told him. "Fred's happy, why are you so pissed off?"

"Do you realize how long it's been since we pranked anybody?"

"So why not prank somebody by yourself?" George scoffed.

"No way, that would just be stupid." Ginny shook her head as she started washing dishes while her mother tried to recover from her sudden emotional outburst.

"Who says that you need to prank people?"

"It's our seventh year!"

"So?"

"So we're supposed to pull a billion pranks before we leave! How are we supposed to be remembered if we don't pull as many pranks as possible?" Ginny shook her head.

"There's no rule that says that you and Fred have to prank everybody in school. Besides, it's not like people are going to forget you tomorrow." George huffed, slumping in his seat and staring down with narrowed eyes.

"You wouldn't understand…"

"Of course I wouldn't, I'm the normal one in the family."

"It's true, you kinda are." Bill commented. Geroge's leg started to shake under the table, his eyes darting towards the door.

"When are they coming back?" He asked angrily. By this time, Molly had recovered from her emotional state and was once against bustling around the kitchen.

"Your brother said a few hours…and I'm going to give him a few hours before I bring him back…" Bill raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean bring him back?" He asked, taking a huge chomp out of a freshly picked apple.

"You'll see in a few hours if he doesn't come back."

Miles away, Fred and Emerald were roaring away down some country road with laughter echoing between them. Fred was going a bit overboard with the car, but Emerald wasn't saying anything. They would only have the car for a few more days, so it was best to just let him get this out of his system now.

"This car is amazing." He muttered under his breath for the third time that hour. Emerald smirked.

"Take a left." She said suddenly. Fred furrowed his brow together, but did as she said and turned onto a dirty, yet smooth path. He instantly slowed down as he rumbled over small rocks and lumps of dead grass.

"Where are we going?" He asked.

"You'll see." She whispered. Emerald smiled as they continued to slowly drive. It would have been a scary situation if Emerald didn't know where she was going, but lucky for them, she knew exactly where she was going. Fred hesitated when he saw the evil gleam in her face.

"Come on Emerald, I don't wanna keep driving in the dark. Where are you taking us?" Emerald's hand suddenly snapped out across his chest, causing him to instantly press his foot on the brakes. "What is it?"

"We're here." She said before eagerly popping out of the car. Fred was close behind her, grabbing his wand to light their way. His steps suddenly stilled as his gaze was drawn upwards to the grand sight that was before him. A great white church that had obviously been forgotten stood creaking in the woods. The abandoned church shone brightly in the moonlight and Fred briefly questioned why he was here. He quickly snapped out of it when he saw Emerald running for the front door.

"Hey! Wait up!" He exclaimed. She laughed as she rushed into the church, the doors remaining open for him to follow. He ran in after her, but found that she had disappeared somewhere in the church. He furrowed his brow together, holding up his wand. It didn't help him find her, but he was able to avoid the boards that had come loose. "Where are you?" He asked, his voice bouncing off the acoustic walls and floating back towards him.

"If you can find me, I'll give you your Christmas present." She taunted from somewhere in the church. Her voice echoed around him and sent chills up his spine. Fred smirked.

"I thought that I already got my Christmas present."

"Sex doesn't count." She shot back. Fred laughed.

"I still get sex later though, right?" He heard Emerald giggle, but her laughter didn't help him locate her.

"It's a possibility, but if you want your real present you'll have to find me." Fred let out a heavy sigh, looking around the room with his wand held out. He would play her game for a few minutes, but after a while he would just give up and force her to come out. He walked to the front of the church where the alter stood in disarray. The piano sat next to the alter, one leg gone and forcing it to lean against the floor. He heard a small snicker and instantly bent over to see Emerald sitting with her knees tucked to her chest and a huge smile on her face.

"Well hello…" He said, crawling underneath the piano to join her. Emerald smirked, instantly leaning into his chest as he wrapped an arm around her.

"You found me." She whispered against his neck, gently biting on his ear. Fred shivered.

"Sex now?" Emerald laughed.

"After you open your present." She told him. She crawled from underneath the piano and pulled him after her. "Come on, it's out in the car!"

"Then why did we have to go through all this?" He asked as they ran down the center aisle and out the front door.

"Because games are fun!" She exclaimed happily. "And besides, this is the coolest church I've ever seen."

"It's deserted." He muttered.

"But that doesn't change the fact that it's cool." Fred smirked as they trotted down the front steps and back to the car. It stood gleaming in the moonlight and Fred let out a dreamy sigh.

"I love this car…" He said as Emerald went around to the back and popped the trunk. There was some rustling before she emerged with something very tall behind her back. Fred crossed his arms as she slowly approached him with his present tucked behind her back.

"Which hand?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Fred laughed and rolled his eyes.

"You know that I can see it."

"Don't always trust your eyes, they can play tricks on you just as easily." She muttered. Fred laughed again.

"All right…the right hand." Emerald smiled.

"Good choice."

She brought her right hand from behind her back, holding out the gift that sat in her hand. Fred's jaw dropped to the ground as he hesitantly took the gift.

"Oh my God…Emerald…"

"It's the latest model, right?" She asked eagerly. Emerald had bought him a broomstick, the latest model according to the salesperson, but she wasn't completely sure. "I know that you play Quidditch so I figured that you would need a new broomstick…do you like it?" Fred instantly nodded.

"It's the fastest they've ever built…wait…this model isn't even out on the market until next year. How the hell did you get one?" Emerald innocently shrugged her shoulders.

"I have my ways…so you like it?" Fred nodded and brought her into a tight embrace.

"I love it, now I'll have to take you out flying." Emerald quickly shook her head.

"No way are you getting me on that thing. I hate heights."

"Then how about we get back in the car…the back seat maybe?" Emerald laughed.

"Even when I give you this amazing gift, all you can think about is sex." Fred opened the door for her, offering her an arm into the backseat.

"It's me, you should know better by now."


	17. Did We Just Get Engaged?

Fred and Emerald rested in each other's arms that night, making love under the white moonlight. They opened the moon roof of Emerald's car, allowing the moonlight to bath each other in its white glow. The night air was chilly, but they managed to keep each other warm. It was the first time that they were allowed to be loud, to call out each other's names at whatever volume they wanted. They had lost track of time after the sixth or seventh time and had fallen asleep, covered by a blanket that Emerald had stashed under the drivers seat. When Fred took her into his arms after finding the blanket, she was shivering slightly.

"Do you want me to close the roof?" He asked. Emerald shook her head, snuggling against Fred's chest.

"No, I like the light." She said. "The moonlight is so pretty, it would be a shame to shut it out." Fred smirked.

"Are you tired?"

"No, I'm wide awake." Fred creased his brow.

"Oh, then I've done a bad job tonight." Emerald laughed.

"No, you can do no wrong." Fred gently rubbed her shoulder as they both shut their eyes, relaxed by the gentle blowing wind flowing through the trees. They stayed wrapped up in each others arms with soft smiles on their faces.

"Let's just stay…we don't need to go back." Fred whispered. Emerald laughed lightly.

"Your mother will have a fit if we're not back soon." She left his embrace and started searching for her clothing, but Fred pulled her back into his arms.

"She'll get over it." He told her firmly. "Just stay with me." Emerald sighed and rested her head against Fred's chest.

"This isn't going to be very comfortable sleeping in the backseat of a car."

"If we were comfortable doing it in the backseat of a car, we'll be comfortable sleeping in the backseat of a car." He muttered, his eyes still closed with a huge smirk on his face. Emerald pressed against his body, her nipples growing hard against his cool skin. He smirked slightly.

"Does somebody need another go?" Emerald giggled.

"No, it's just very cold and you're being perverted." Fred chuckled.

"Sorry, but it's what I do best." Emerald shook her head as she forced herself up and began putting her clothes back on. She handed Fred his pants and he reluctantly put them on. "Come on, can't we just stay for a few more hours?"

"And what do you suggest we do for the next few hours?"

"You know what I wanna do." He muttered. Emerald rolled her eyes as she pulled her bra over her arms and fastened it behind her back.

"We did it seven times, isn't that enough for you?" Fred raised an eyebrow.

"I'm 18, do you honestly think that I've had enough?" He asked with a loud laugh. Emerald laughed as they were finally dressed, but curled up in one another's arms.

"I don't want your mom to hate me." She whispered against his cheek. Fred smirked.

"My mom doesn't hate you. She adores you because you're a girl and you like me." Emerald raised an eyebrow.

"What does me being a girl have to do with anything?" She asked. Fred sighed.

"Don't make me go into the whole grandchild thing, I'm not really in the mood." Emerald laughed, covering her face with her hands.

"Are you serious?" She asked. "We're 18, we're not having kids…marriage isn't even an option." Fred started to play with her hair, not answering. She looked up at him with her eyes wide. "It isn't, right?" Fred averted her gaze, looking out the moon roof and pretending he wasn't thinking about it.

"…Maybe…we should…" Emerald furrowed her brow together, pushing herself up and staring at him.

"Fred, we've barely known each other for a few months…and we haven't been dating much longer…you can't expect us to get married now." She said, running a hand through her tousled hair. "Think about this rationally, we can't get married…we just can't!" Fred sat up to face her.

"Just think about it from where I'm coming from for a second." He whispered, pulling her close. "If we got engaged, maybe…your grandmother wouldn't force you to marry Kent. If things didn't work out, we could just break off the engagement and your grandmother might be gone by then…" Emerald quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm going to assume that you've thought about this…a lot…" She muttered, a smirk slowly spreading across her face. Fred pursed his lips together.

"Don't laugh." He muttered. "I'm trying to help you." Emerald gently cupped his cheek, offering him a kind smile.

"I know and I appreciate it…but…it would never work."

"We don't know unless we try." He took her hands, holding them against his chest. "Please, let's try, it won't hurt anybody!" He exclaimed. Emerald's expression suddenly softened, her eyes flicking downwards in thought.

"I don't want us to get hurt Fred…I want this to work more than you can imagine." Fred leaned his forehead against hers, gently kissing her as she whimpered.

"There's nothing to worry about." He whispered. "I'll take care of you and I'll love you forever." Emerald smiled as she kissed him again.

"Do you promise?" Fred nodded.

"Forever." Emerald smirked.

"Then I'm yours…now should we go give your mother a heart attack and tell her the good news?" Fred laughed.

"Oh let's!"

Fred jumped into the front seat of the car with Emerald popping into the passenger's seat. She smiled as he brought the engine to life with a loud roar and he ripped away from the church and back onto the main road. He went roaring down the road, his entire body pumping with adrenaline. Of course he was happy; Emerald had agreed to get engaged. He didn't know whether or not they would stay engaged, but he wasn't thinking about that now. His main focus was where was he going to find a ring on such short notice? He hadn't actually though to get a ring because he hadn't thought that far into the process.

Emerald suddenly glanced over to him, a huge smirk spread across her face.

"Did we just get engaged?" She asked with a little smirk. Fred chuckled.

"Yeah…I think we did…"


	18. Everything I Want

As everybody had expected, Fred and Emerald weren't back in a few hours as they had promised. They were well over their limit, even with Molly giving them two extra hours slack time just because she wanted her son to have fun. Now she was just getting pissed off. She checked her watch, at least the seventh time in the past five minutes.

"They have one more minute before I bring them back." She muttered under her breath. Everybody had stayed up with Molly, waiting to see where the two had been. George was even humoring his family by being down there. He personally didn't want to be there when those two walked in smelling like sex, but his brothers had dragged him down there just so that they could make fun of Fred. He wasn't in the mood…

Molly let out a huge huff out of frustration as she started to pace back and forth across the kitchen. It was always a bad situation when she started to pace.

"Those two are in a mess of trouble." She said, pulling out her wand with the tip already glowing. Just as she was about to cast her spell, they heard the Lamborghini pull into the driveway. Bill groaned from the corner.

"Fuck, that's not fair." He muttered. They heard the doors open and then slam shut with a loud titter of laughter. The pair could be seen out the window, holding hands with their eyes all gooey and lovey…George was sick…

They came through the front door, but didn't back down when they saw Molly absolutely fuming in the middle of the kitchen. Everybody was eagerly waiting behind Molly to see what would happen, but didn't expect what was about to happen. Fred raised their held hands with a wide smirk.

"We're engaged!"

All the anger in the room seemed to suddenly disappear and change into questionable excitement as the words slowly sunk into the Weasley family. Fred put an arm around Emerald with his smirk widening. He looked so proud as they waited for somebody to say something, the silence not seeming to phase them in the least. There was no ring on Emerald's finger, but it was unmistakable that the pair were absolutely glowing. The reaction from Molly was immediate and happily welcomed by Emerald and Fred.

"Engaged?" Molly asked, her tears of fury suddenly turning into tears of great happiness. "This is wonderful!" She pulled the two into a tight hug and started sobbing into Fred's hair. Everybody sat behind her completely shocked, the thought not fully sinking into their heads. George was the first one to say something, jumping up from his seat and nearly knocking over the table.

"Are you two fucking kidding me?" He asked angrily. Molly pulled back from the pair, giving them the room to look over her shoulders and over at George. "You two are fucking engaged?" Fred quickly walked to his brother, holding him back by his bicep.

"Calm down, I'll explain everything later." He whispered so that nobody could hear. "We're not really engaged, we're just saying we are…I'll explain later tonight." George bit his lower lip and kept quiet, but he was still raging inside. He quietly sat down, almost shaking he was so angry.

"You better explain." He whispered in a deadly low voice before letting his brother turn away. Fred discretely nodded before taking Emerald's hand again.

"We were thinking of getting married next winter, what do you think mom?"

Molly and Ginny instantly went off planning Emerald and Fred's wedding, but the couple couldn't help but continuously glance over at George. Emerald squeezed his hand, silently asking him if everything would be all right. There was so much worry in her eyes, it troubled him to see her so distressed. He quickly nodded, squeezing her hand back and pretending to listen attentively to his mother. He would explain everything to his brother and hopefully things would go over well.

Later that night, after the wedding had been pushed from everybody's mind thanks to pure exhaustion, Fred went to George. His brother was sulking in his bed and wouldn't even look at Fred, but that didn't matter. Fred would just have to say what he came to say, even if his brother didn't listen.

"Look, I know that you're upset…"

"I don't think that upset is really the right word." George muttered from beneath the sheets.

"Fine, you're pissed."

"Personally, I'd go with enraged, but that's just me." Fred sighed, feeling his temples start to throb. This was not going to be easy.

"Will you stop acting like a chick and just let me talk?" George rolled his eyes, shrugging his shoulders and finally glancing over at Fred.

"Fine, I'm listening." He muttered. Fred sat down on the edge of George's bed, leaning against the cool painted wall.

"Emerald's engaged."

"Yeah, I know, to you." Fred shook his head.

"No, she's engaged to somebody else. Her grandmother has an arranged marriage set up for her with some Irish guy named Kent and Emerald doesn't want to do it so…we're just saying that we're engaged until her grandmother dies and then she can do whatever she wants. It's just a temporary thing…maybe…" George raised his eyebrow.

"You'd go to all that trouble…just for her?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Then explain it to me." George demanded as he threw back his blankets and sat up to face his brother. "Why would you go through all this trouble just for her?"

"I love her." Fred muttered. "I didn't realize that love was so strong, but…I would do anything for her." George stared at his brother for a moment. Fred looked vulnerable and part of him wanted to tease him for being such a prick, but he held himself back. Something very strange had happened to his brother and George suddenly didn't want to mess with him. For the first time in his entire life, he didn't see the need to make a snide comment.

Fred glanced over, expecting George to say something, but there was nothing. His brother merely nodded, even forcing himself to smile a little.

"Great…that's great…really…" Fred furrowed his brow together.

"What?"

"I mean…that's good…about the love and shit…" Fred couldn't help but to just shake his head.

"I think that you've lost it…" He muttered. George pursed his lips together.

"First you want me to like her and now you're saying that I've lost it because I'm acting like I do like her!" George kicked his way out of his bed and started stomping down the hallway and into the kitchen. Fred was close on his heels.

"You're only acting?" George swung the kitchen door open with a loud bang.

"Fuck this whole thing!" He exclaimed. "As long as she's here, I'm sleeping in the barn!" Fred watched George disappear into the night, letting out a heavy sigh as everybody in the house started to slowly wake up.

"What the fuck is going on down there?" Charlie screamed from his room, not bothering to come downstairs.

"Charlie! Don't use such language!" Molly scolded from her bed. "Is everything all right dear?" Fred stood in the doorway, but suddenly turned when he heard padded feet slowly coming down the stairs. Emerald stood at the bottom, her lower lip trembling as they just stared at one another.

"He didn't take it very well, did he?" She asked in a low whisper. Fred shook his head, slowly sitting down at the kitchen table and letting out a heavy sigh.

"I hate my life."

"Did you explain everything to him?" Fred nodded.

"It's George, though, he won't listen to anybody." Emerald pulled a chair close to him and snuggled against his side. Fred instantly wrapped an arm around her as she slid her legs over his thighs.

"Maybe…I should talk to him…" She whispered against his neck. Fred shook his head.

"No, you'd just make things worse." He muttered. Emerald glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"And you've totally helped the situation?"

"You know what I mean." Emerald nodded, wrapping her arms tightly around his chest as they both heard the loud slamming of the barn door.

"He's not really going to sleep out there, is he?" She asked.

"George's stubborn, he'll do anything to get his point across." Emerald bent her face up to gently kiss Fred's neck.

"Just let me talk to him and explain everything, it won't hurt unless we try." Fred sighed.

"Are you sure?" She eagerly nodded.

"Oh yeah, it'll be fun!" She exclaimed with fake enthusiasm. Fred laughed.

"All right, if that's what you want." Emerald reached up to smooth back his hair before lightly kissing his forehead.

"It's nothing that I want…everything that I want is right here."


	19. Unforgiving Passion

George refused to come back inside. He had become confined to the barn because of his own insistence. Molly had of course tried to intervene, but there was no way that George was going to hear it. He would stay there until Emerald left, that was his promise. New Years Eve arrived and Emerald finally decided to do something. Everybody had tried to talk to George and now she figured that it was her turn. While everybody was left in the house getting ready for the New Years party hosted by the Ministry, Emerald snuck out and headed for the barn. She was wearing a sparkly silver mini dress that went halfway down her thighs with a pair of black leggings and silver heels. Her hair was parted heavily on the left side and curled within an inch of its life. So in her lovely holiday outfit, Emerald went sneaking out to the barn to see if she could do anything to ease George's anger.

Emerald gently opened the barn door, peering around in the eerie darkness that had consumed George…somewhere. Animals hadn't inhabited the barn for a very long time, but the floor was still scattered with hay. There were parts of cars, parts of planes, and various other objects on shaking tables and on the floor. It was hard to maneuver around, but Emerald managed.

"George…where are you?" She called out, hoping to get a quick response. Emerald was terrified of the dark and the creaking barn was not helping that fear.

There was no answer to her quiet question, not one that she could hear at least. She teetered around for a bit before hearing a small shuffling coming from in the loft. In her silver heels, she climbed the small ladder and poked her head through the small hole that opened to the loft.

"Are you up here?" She asked softly. Her question was met with a soft grunt, coming from a shadowed corner. She climbed all the way up, glancing around and smoothing down her dress. George came walking from the shadows, a large bottle of liquor in his hand. Emerald wasn't going to ask where he had gotten it from. The only thing that she could assume was that he had found it somewhere in the barn and was well past wasted. He plopped down on a barrel, taking a long swig.

"Happy fucking new year." He muttered after a few seconds. Emerald nodded, keeping her distance.

"I see that you're celebrating, am I interrupting?" She asked politely. George shook his head.

"No…sit down…do you want some?" He asked as he offered her the half empty bottle. Emerald shook her head, sitting a barrel somewhat close to him.

"No thank you, I'm fine." She smiled at him awkwardly as he took another drink. "How are you doing out here?" She asked. George shrugged his shoulders.

"There are a lot of rats…" Emerald nodded as a period of awkward silence passed between them.

"I came to talk to you about Fred and I." She suddenly blurted out. George nodded again, leaning against the barn wall in his drunken stupor.

"Of course…you and everybody else!" He took another long swig from the bottle as Emerald just stared at him. George caught her staring and held out his bottle. "This is dad's stash, for when he likes to get really wasted…figured now was the best time for me." He drank again while Emerald furrowed her brows together.

"Why are you so upset about this whole thing?" She asked. "Fred and I aren't hurting you…so why does us being together bother you so much?" George slowly stood up, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"Because you're a hippie." He muttered, pointing a shaking finger at her. Emerald crossed her arms.

"You've said that every time that you've complained about me, what's wrong with being a hippie?"

"I don't see what's so fucking great about you!" He exclaimed, smashing his bottle against the wall. Emerald jumped and almost fell off of her barrel. She edged around it and started backing up towards the ladder. "I guess your pretty…and you're not so creepy." He threw the remainder of his bottle to the ground, the crashing sound making Emerald jump and cry out. "He probably likes you so much because he gets to fuck you."

"Please George…it's not like that…"

"I'll bet that it is." He said, grabbing her wrists and forcing her against him. "That's probably the only reason why he can stand your ass is because you put out." George managed to force her down to the floor, a loud scream escaping her lips as he started to pull at her clothing. "Maybe I should fuck you to see what the big deal is."

Emerald started to cry, pushing on his chest as he ripped her dress in two and started working on her leggings. She was struggling against him, desperately trying to escape his grasp, but even in his drunken state George was much stronger than her.

"Let go of me!" Emerald exclaimed. She hit his face and kicked at his knees, but George held tight on her. In a sudden swoop, he slapped her across the face, rendering her silent for mere seconds. Her screams would fall on deaf ears as George ripped away at her leggings and left her exposed on the floor.

It was not gentle, for there was no love; it was not quick, for there was no love; Emerald would never forget, for there was no love. With her wand, she silently repaired her clothing and made everything right again. She left as quickly as she could, stumbling over the dozen different car parts lying in her way. She didn't know if George was running after her or if he had passed out on the floor; all she knew was that she had to get out. Emerald rushed to the house, fighting back her tears as she walked into the house. Fred instantly greeted her with a wide smile and a big hug.

"What were you doing out there?" He asked in her ear as he held her close. He furrowed his brow together when he noticed that she was trembling slightly. "Are you all right?" He asked so that nobody else would hear. She quickly nodded, showing him a bright smile.

"I'm fine…don't worry about me…" Fred hesitantly nodded, taking her hand and going to the front door where his family waited for them in the car. They squeezed in together in the small car sent by the Ministry, Emerald ending up on Fred's lap with their legs tightly pressed together. She ended up staring out the window, tears suddenly erupting from her eyes. Emerald quickly wiped the tears away, but Fred had seen her crying. He pulled her closely to him and gently kissed her temple.

"Why are you crying?" He asked in a low whisper. "What's wrong?" Emerald pursed her lips together, mentally battling with herself. If she told Fred now, he would throw an absolute fit and possibly kill his brother. Not to mention the fact that George had been drunk and that he would be killed by his entire family if they found out now. Emerald had already caused enough trouble in the Weasley family. A case of rape was the last thing that they needed. Emerald glanced at him with a soft smile, deciding then and there to keep her mouth shut.

"I'm crying because...I have to leave soon." She quickly lied. "And I love being with you so much...and I adore your family." Now that was the truth. Fred smirked, gently rubbing her hip.

"Don't worry, we still have school to be together…and I'm not leaving you any time soon." Emerald gently kissed him, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"I know…"


	20. What Needs to be Done

Hogwarts welcomed back its students, but Emerald couldn't join in on the frustrations of getting back to classes. She was sure that George couldn't remember what he had done to her. He went back to hating her and avoiding her glances in the hallways. He acted as if she didn't exist, and that was not helping her mentally cope with...that night. She shook every time the memory of that night entered into her head. Emerald was very close to losing it in front of Fred, but she had to keep her wits about her. If she were to lose it, she would surely cause a war amongst the Weasley family. That she wished to avoid.

Fred hadn't suspected a thing until one day, when he had cornered her in her yoga room. Usually this was a peaceful place for Emerald, but he couldn't help but notice that something had become suddenly very uneasy. Emerald had become jumpy and Fred couldn't place the reason. Whenever he would reach out to take her hand, she would flinch slightly at first before easing into his grip. It worried him when she would pull back slightly, but she would always just smile at him as if nothing was wrong. She acted like he couldn't see that she was upset.

Fred had snuck up to her room one night to find her merely sitting against the window. She was tucked into a small ball, her eyes focusing on her knees. She didn't even look up when he walked in and closed the door behind him.

"Hey Em." He muttered, walking towards her and carefully sitting down next to her. Just as it had been for the past couple of days, she jumped slightly when he sat next to her. Fred sighed quietly and wrapped an arm around her as she innocently leaned against his shoulder. "Shouldn't you be doing your yoga?" He asked. Emerald quickly shook her head.

"I'm not in the mood tonight…" She muttered. Fred pulled her tighter into his arms before suddenly furrowing his brow out of confusion. Despite the fact that they were extremely close, Fred had never felt so distant from her. It was like she wasn't even there.

"What's the matter with you?" He asked quietly. Emerald couldn't even bring herself to look up at him. Her body started to shake as she pulled away from Fred's grasp.

"Nothing…" She whispered, pushing back her hair and tightening her ponytail.

"If nothing's wrong then why won't you look at me?" Emerald nervously bit her lip.

"I don't want to talk about this." She muttered. Fred's eyes widened as she moved away from him.

"What are you talking about? Why are you suddenly so afraid of me?" Emerald shook her head.

"I'm not afraid of you." Fred grabbed her hand, forcing her to face him. She scrambled to her feet and tried to pull away from him. He went right after her and continued to pull on her hand, trying to force her to look at him. Tears started to well up in her eyes as images of that night came rushing back. Fred pulled her body against his and tried to wrestle her to just look at him, but he had no idea what he was doing to her. Emerald's throat closed up and she started gasping for air as if she were being choked. She screamed out, ripping her body away from him finally.

"LET GO OF ME GEORGE!"

The struggles in the room instantly stopped. Emerald collapsed to the floor, her sobs coming out in strangled breaths. Fred backed up against the wall, his face holding the look of pure terror. He clenched his fists and stared at Emerald as she pressed herself against the floor, the cool stone silencing her sobs.

"What happened?" He whispered. Emerald shook her head, wiping away the tears and trying to hold back the deep sorrow that enveloped her.

"I just went to talk to George…I just wanted to talk to him…" She continued to mumble this over and over again, mostly to herself. Fred ran a hand through his hair, trying to decide what to do.

"He raped you?" He asked, his voice shaking. Emerald's lower lip trembled.

"Please don't be mad at me…"

"Why the fuck would I be mad at you?" He asked angrily. His rage was directed towards George and he honestly hoped that she would know that.

"Because…I didn't say anything…even when you asked me." Fred dropped to his knees before her, gently taking her shoulders and forcing her to look up at him.

"I will never hate you. I will never be mad at you. I love you…and all I want to do is protect you." He let out a heavy sigh, leaning his forehead against hers. She didn't flinch away. She leaned in to him and gently kissed his cheek. "I supposed I couldn't even protect you from my own brother." He whispered. Emerald shook her head, cupping his cheek.

"There was nothing you could have done."

"If I had been there, I would have stopped him…I would have killed him..." Emerald ran her hands down his face before lightly kissing him.

"Please…don't do anything that you're going to regret later."

Fred pursed his lips together, the anger quickly rushing back into his body. George had done some pretty lousy things in his life that had been awful, but Fred had always forgiven him. He had always clapped him on the back with a big smile and said 'that's my brother.' This time, there would be no laughter and no simple excuses. Fred would make his brother pay for this…even if he and his brother would never talk again, Emerald was worth this. She was worth protecting and isolating the one person that needed to be isolated.

Fred pulled back from Emerald, staring down at her before gently kissing her forehead.

"I promise you that I'm going to do what needs to be done."


	21. I love you, please open the door

Fred rushed through the hallways of Hogwarts like a bat out of hell. He was pushing people out of his way, running as fast as he could to get to the Gryffindor common room. When he had left Emerald in her yoga room, he had been calm enough. She was extremely upset and him being mad wasn't going to help matters. So he left her to do her yoga with a smile on his face, but as soon as he started walking through the hallways and thinking about things, he started to get pissed. George had no right to touch what was his…as stupid as that sounded, it was true. Emerald was his girlfriend and he would do whatever it took to keep her safe.

His blood was boiling by the time that he had gotten to the Gryffindor common room. He slammed the door open and instantly spotted his brother on the couch with tons of their friends surrounding him. He was lounging back with a huge smile on his face. They were joking about something, but he didn't hear a word that they were saying. All he saw was red…

"Well, look who's taken a break from fucking his hippie to rejoin the normal world!" George exclaimed from the couch as Fred stalked towards him. If George could have said anything to piss off Fred more, that was probably it.

The smile on his face was sending Fred through the roof. His blood was boiling as he watched his brother casually run a hand through his hair and keep the cheeky smile on his face. How could he smile at him like that? Why would he smile so happily like that after doing something so awful? He pursed his lips together with his fists shaking violently.

"Finally done pounding that pussy?"

Fred was all over George in a second. He pushed him over the back of the couch and started pummeling his face, anger pulsing through his veins with his teeth bared in absolute rage. The boys scrambled off of the couch and stood dumbstruck as they watched Fred beat the crap out of George. It took them a few seconds to realize what was happening before they jumped over the couch and tried to pull Fred off of George. They were shocked to see the Weasley twins at war with each other and they couldn't understand why. Fred was a powerful force that all five were extremely scared of, but the boys finally managed to pry him away from beating his brother to a bloody pulp. He had already started, of course; Fred's nose was heavily bleeding and there was already the formation of a black eye.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He asked, not bothering to wipe the blood away from his lip. Fred was aggressively fighting against the restraints of the boys to get to his brother. Students who had once been content in their rooms were now rushing from their beds to see what the commotion was about. They were shocked to see the two Weasley brothers about to tear each other apart and five boys doing their best to keep that from happening.

"Let me go!" He called to the boys holding him back. "Why the fuck are you protecting him?"

"Maybe you should tell me why you're going psycho on my ass." Fred pushed away the five boys, letting out a loud scream.

"You raped her." He said with his teeth bared. George's eyes nearly dropped out of their sockets.

"Excuse me?" He asked. This time it was he who charged towards his brother and had to be held back. "What the fuck did you just say to me?"

"You heard me." Fred muttered. "You raped Emerald and I should kill you…you don't deserve to live…" George's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"What the fuck did you just say to me?" Both boys were pulling at their restraints like two dogs stuck in their yards, chained to the ground. "You've lost your fucking mind!"

"On New Years!" Fred shot back. "When you were staying in the fucking barn because you were being a pissy bitch!" George shook his head, thinking back. He had been piss drunk on New Years…but then he suddenly remembered screaming…and he had woken up with his pants around his ankles. At first he had just thought that he had needed to take a piss really badly, but now that he thought about it that wasn't the case. His body suddenly went slack as the realization hit him. Even when he had hated Emerald the worst, she would at least offer him a kind glance. Now she wouldn't even do that. She could barely stand to look at he or his brother…she had even been skittish around Fred. George suddenly felt very sick and on the verge of throwing up.

"Oh God…"

Fred finally broke free of the distracted boys and pushed his brother against the wall, his hands wrapped tightly around his neck. George grabbed at his brother's hands, but didn't make much of an attempt to push him away. His conscious was weighing down on him heavily and he didn't see the point of pushing Fred away and making him angrier.

"I'll kill you before you touch her again." He said through bared teeth. George gasped, feeling suddenly very light headed.

"Fred no!"

George managed to look up to see a terrified Emerald come running into the room, but Fred didn't even seem to notice. People were shouting now and trying to pull Fred away, but Emerald managed to push through the crowds and grab his shoulder.

"Stop this! Let go of him!" She screamed in Fred's ear. He slowly shook his head.

"He hurt you…"

"This isn't going to solve anything!" Emerald pulled at his shoulder again, trying to get him away from George. "Please stop, you'll kill him!"

It got very confusing after that. Nobody was sure if Fred pushed Emerald or if she just tripped over her own feet, but what everybody saw was Emerald falling to the ground and smacking her head against the back of the couch. There was a loud slam as her head made contact with the heavy lumber covered by the dark stained leather. She landed with a loud groan and everything grew quiet again. Fred dropped George back onto his shaking feet and instantly sank down next to Emerald.

"Emerald, are you all right?" He asked quietly, reaching up to cradle her head. Emerald stared at him for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh.

"I've caused you enough trouble." She whispered. "And you know that I'm definitely not worth it, so why are we even putting ourselves through this?" Fred's jaw dropped as she picked herself up and slowly headed towards the Gryffindor girl's common room. By then, people had rushed off to either help George or get Madame Pomfrey to come and help him. Fred was too busy chasing after Emerald to notice his half-conscious brother.

"What are you talking about?" He asked desperately. Emerald stopped in the doorway, glancing down at him with sad eyes.

"I'm tired of you and your brother always fighting over me. Now you hate each other and…I'm in the middle of it all…" She shook her head, blinking back tears. "I'm not worth it…I'm not worth any of this." She said with a weak smile. Fred went to grab her hand, but Emerald disappeared into the dorm room without a second word. Fred stood there for a moment in shock and disbelief. His hand instantly went to the door and he tried to pull it open, but it was tightly locked. He started banging on the door, desperately trying to get an answer…any answer…

"Emerald!" He called through the door. "You have to talk to me! Don't do this to me!" Fred waited, but his ears were met with absolute silence. He pressed his forehead against the cool door as his shoulders started to shake. "I love you…please open the door...?" Again, there was nothing but silence. He pursed his lips together, slamming his fist against the door and walking away. "Fine, I'll talk to you tomorrow."


	22. Emerald's Gone

Fred awoke early the next morning and rushed out the door and straight to the girl's dormitory. Despite the fact that it was still dark outside, he pounded his fist against the door. There were a few groans from inside and eventually somebody managed to roll out of bed and open the door. It was Hermione. She stared at him with half lidded eyes, leaning heavily against the door.

"What do you want at this ungodly hour?" She asked, rubbing her eyes of any sleep. Fred eagerly tried to peer past her to try and see into the dorm room.

"I need to talk to Emerald." He said quickly. Hermione let out a loud yawn, fanning it away.

"She's not here."

"What?" Hermione nodded, slowly waking up.

"Yeah, she left last night, some time around midnight, didn't you hear all the commotion while they were moving her out?" Fred quickly shook his head, running a hand over his face. At midnight he had been in the hospital wing getting a firm scolding from his mother and father. Apparently they hadn't taken too kindly to the fact that he had tried to kill his brother.

"Did they say where she was going?" He asked eagerly. Hermione stepped out of the girl's dormitory, shutting the door behind her.

"No…she just mentioned that she wasn't worth all the fighting and was going away to solve the problem."

"And she didn't leave an address or tell you even the country that she was going to?" Hermione hesitated for a moment.

"She didn't tell you?"

"Of course not! Would I be asking if she had!" Hermione furrowed her brow together, staring up at Fred.

"You know how upset she was, right?"

"Yes, how could you not be after having been…?"

"No, that's not why she was upset." She quickly explained. "Emerald saw how much you and George fought and it was starting to get to her. He's your twin and it bothered her that she was separating you two."

"But I told her that it didn't matter…"

"She knew that you were lying. She didn't want to tear you away from your brother or your family."

"But she would never…"

"Fred, stop it." Hermione said firmly. "What it comes down to is that Emerald didn't want everybody to hate you for choosing her so…she made the decision for you and she left." Fred's heart dropped into his stomach.

"So…she's really gone?" He asked, his throat clenching tightly. Hermione sadly nodded.

"I'm afraid so…" She watched him as he did his best to appear manly and hold back his tears. She suddenly gasped, a thought popping into her mind. "Hold on, she left something for you." Fred instantly perked up as Hermione disappeared into the room and reappeared moments later with a large leather bound book. "She said that she wanted you to finish it without her."

Fred gingerly touched the cover of the leather book, his hands shaking slightly.

"Hamlet…" He murmured.

"She said that you were almost done…but she couldn't finish it with you."

"Yeah…I know." Fred sighed, turning to the page that they had left off at. It was Ophelia's scene, after having been rejected by Hamlet she went mad before committing suicide in the river. Fred sighed, finding this strangely suited to the situation.

"Can I do anything for you?" She asked, gently touching his arm. Fred shook his head, finally letting his head drop and a few lone tears escape.

"No…there's nothing either of us can do."

Fred darted from the room, heading down the stairs and into the main entrance hallway. Nobody was awake yet and there wasn't even the slightest movement from any creature in the castle. He shivered as he leaned against the huge doorway. His entire body was shaking as his body slowly sunk down to the ground. Had he been the one to force Emerald away? Why had she doubted that she wasn't worth everything that he had? Of course she was worth the constant fighting with his brother. He loved her and nobody else. It hurt him that he would ever doubt the love that he had for her, but what good did that pain do him now? Emerald was gone and there was no way to explain what had happened.

"You're up early, Mr. Weasley."

Fred looked up to see Dubmledore slowly descending the staircase, wearing a long purple velvet robe with his hands crossed behind his back. Fred quickly scrambled to his feet and smoothed down his pajama bottoms.

"Good morning sir." He muttered. Dumbledore nodded to Fred with a kind smile on his face.

"I assume that your early waking means that you've heard about Ms. Shepherd's hasty departure?" Fred slowly nodded.

"Yeah…I didn't even know that she had gone until this morning when Hermione told me." Dumbledore nodded, coming to stand in front of him.

"Yes, strange, she wouldn't tell her parents or me what her reasons were for leaving, but she just insisted that she needed to leave immediately and that she refused to be a burden any longer." Fred bit his lower lip. "I told her that this was impossible because she wasn't a burden on any of us…at least, that was my impression."

"She thought that she was making George and I fight…but that wasn't the case. Just because we were fighting didn't mean that it was her fault." Dumbledore shook his head.

"Women are…complicated, Mr. Weasley. You may tell them one thing, but there's no guarantee that they will believe you. You may have told Ms. Shepherd that she had nothing to do with you and your brother fighting, but what she saw told her that she was the problem." Fred shook his head.

"But I told her…"

"Mr. Weasley, sometimes actions speak far louder than words." He explained. "If she saw you fighting with your brother, she knew that there had to be a cause…and she assumed that she was that cause. Perhaps, Mr. Weasley, some words should have been spoken much sooner then they were said." Fred nodded.

"I guess you're right…but it's too late to use any of that advice now." Fred muttered as he thought of how far away Emerald could be by now. For all he knew, she could be halfway across the pond on her way back to America. Dumbledore instantly shook his finger with a knowing smile on his face.

"If you learn one thing from Hogwarts, Mr. Weasley, I hope it is this: it is never too late to fix your problems." Fred nodded with a slight smirk.

"Thank you sir…"


	23. Just Leave

Hey guys, this story is almost over!!!!!!!!!! Aw, isn't that sad? NE way, please be sure to send lots of reviews on these last few chapters because I would really appreciate it...only four more to go after this one, yay!!!!!!!

The year came to a quick end and the world finally heard the cry of the Weasley brother's freedom. They left with a bang, literally speaking. Fireworks in the form of an elaborate dragon chased them out as they flew away on stolen broomsticks much faster than their own. There would be no graduation ceremony for them, but it didn't matter. They were free. After Emerald had left, things had returned to a somewhat normal state between Fred and George. There were still those awkward silences that would pass between them that had before been nothing in their minds, but now the silence was deafening. Fred just tried to brush it off and avoid the deep depression that kept calling his name. Life without Emerald was empty to be blunt. There was no more Shakespeare readings in the library, no more laughter between stolen kisses, not even a hand to hold when he felt lonely. As for the book that she had left behind, Fred hadn't gathered the courage to read it. It sat on his shelf with the bookmark still neatly tucked between its pages. He was almost certain that it would never be finished, but it may have proved to be good for him. It wouldn't constantly remind him of the pain and grief he was going through. Emerald was gone and all Fred could do was try to get over her.

A year later, Fred and George had proudly opened their new joke shop in Hogsmede Village. It was opening day, Halloween, the perfect night to spook all of your friends for a reasonable price. Everything was flying off of the shelves. Students were packed into the store, stuffing random items into the baskets that had been provided. George and Fred looked proudly over their handiwork with huge smirks. From what they could tell and from the money they were making, they were doing pretty damn well.

"Fuck we're good." George muttered under his brother, loud enough for only his brother to hear. Fred smirked.

"Yeah, I'd say that we're pretty fucking good." Another purchase was made and happily rung up by the two brothers, almost fighting over who got to take the money.

"So when did mom and dad and the others say they were gonna stop by?" George ask, shutting the register having won the brief fight.

"Some time after midnight, they're dropping by after they drop by the Halloween party at the Ministry…you know how dad is about their parties, he hasn't missed one." George rolled his eyes.

"Doesn't he have a record down there or something?" Fred shrugged his shoulders.

"Hell if I know, like I ever pay attention at what's going on down at the Ministry…bunch of freaks." George snorted.

"You're telling me."

A sudden flash of red caught Fred's eyes and his head snapped towards the window. This happened on almost a daily basis. He would see a twist of red hair and instantly assume that it was Emerald. Whenever he would take a good look, though, it was never her. The first time it had happened, he had chased after the girl and caught her by the shoulder, nearly scaring her to death. He apologized with an embarrassed blush on his cheeks and rushed back into his shop, vowing never to do that again. Now whenever he saw that flash of red, he would just remind himself that Emerald was gone and that she wasn't coming back.

He had often wandered off in a daydream and thought about where Emerald had run off to. She could be anywhere in the world right now what with her parents money backing any trip that she could dream up. Fred wondered how far was far enough to forget everything that they had shared. For his whole life, Fred had always been under the impression that you only get one great love in your life. You were supposed to treasure it and love that person with all of your heart. If you lost that person, that was it; you were destined to spend the rest of your life alone. Fred was convinced that Emerald was his one true love; as corny as it sounded, he believed it. They fit together perfectly, but what he couldn't understand was why you would want to run away from something so perfect.

It suddenly happened again, the flash of red that jolted Fred out of his seat. George rolled his eyes as students started to file out of the store with large bags clutched in their hands.

"Will you just give it up?" He asked as he was paid by the last student, who ran for the door to catch up with their friends. George followed after that student, locking the door firmly behind them. "She's gone, why do you keep looking for her?" Fred merely shook his head.

"I…I can't explain it…" He muttered sadly. George picked up the daily paper that he hadn't gotten the chance to read earlier. He started flipping through the pages while his brother continued to mope.

"Well stop acting like a fucking pussy and jumping at the window every time you see a girl with red hair." Fred leaned his forehead against the window. George shook his head. "Stop letting her control you. You have to deal with the fact that she's gone and…just…" Fred furrowed his brow together as he glanced over when his brother stopped talking.

"What's wrong?" He asked. His brother's eyes were focused solely on an article in the Prophet, but he roughly folded up the paper and shoved it behind his back.

"Nothing." He said nervously. Fred slowly walked over to his brother and went to grab the paper that he was hiding, but George quickly ducked away.

"Dude…what did you read?" He asked, making another grab for the paper.

"I didn't read anything." George insisted. "Remember, I don't like to read…reading makes me barf!" Fred pursed his lips out of frustration.

"You obviously read something to make you freak out like this…and why won't you let me read it?" George rushed around the counter with the paper still behind his back.

"Go do stock or something!" He said as she rushed around to try and keep the paper from his brother.

Fred cut his brother off and forced him to the floor so that he could grab the paper from his hands. He ripped it open to the page where George had left off and instantly felt his heart sink into his stomach. His brother had been reading the wedding announcements and there, taking up half of the page, was Emerald. She was standing amongst a group of hundreds of people in a white lace dress with a bouquet of orchids forced into her lackluster hands. She wasn't smiling, but the man next to her was. He was a tall, muscular man with a buzz cut and a slight smirk on his face. Fred shrunk at the fact that the man was extremely handsome, but also marveled at how beautiful Emerald looked. He had never seen her look so stunning and yet, his heart stopped at the fact that she was…married.

"Dude…are you okay?" George asked with an uneasy tremor in his voice. Fred stared at the picture and started reading the wedding announcement. It said that Emerald had gone to Scotland to finish out school and then she had apparently gotten engaged a month after school. It said nothing about the arranged marriage or what Emerald wanted to do with her life. It only talked about her new husband, Kent Adair.

"This is Kent Adair…the one that she had an arranged marriage with." Fred muttered. George peered over the newspaper to see the man that Fred was pointing at.

"He looks like he could snap her in half." Fred nodded. "So…does this mean that you'll give her up?" He asked, trying to hide the eagerness in his voice. For the past year, all that he had wanted was for his brother to finally give up hope that Emerald was coming back. They were finally in a good place in their lives. They owned their own joke shop, they lived in a decent flat, and there weren't any girls to mess shit up. He knew that if Emerald came back, Fred would drop everything and go running off to be with her. That was the last thing that George wanted.

Fred glanced up at his brother as he tried to hide the smirk that was hiding in his eyes. It was annoying to see his brother so excited and giddy over the fact that Fred had lost Emerald for good now. He sighed and tossed the paper back on the counter.

"Try not to be too excited over my misfortune." He muttered. George shook his head.

"That's not it at all!" He exclaimed. "I mean…this is a good thing because now you won't be moping around and you can focus on other things…maybe find another girl better than Emerald." Fred pursed his lips together, but wouldn't allow himself to explode at George. His brother knew how to push his buttons, but he was not in the mood to fight. This was supposed to be a good day and he wouldn't ruin it with a fight. So Fred kept his mouth shut as he picked up the paper again and threw it into the trash.

"Yeah, I guess I just can't win…" George clapped him on the back with a wide smirk.

"That's the spirit! Now go in the back room and take inventory." He said, pushing him towards the door leading to the stock room. Fred raised an eyebrow as he stumbled forward.

"Why the fuck do I have to take inventory?" He asked angrily.

"Because you're the youngest." He shot back. Fred rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, only by two minutes." He snorted out. George shrugged his shoulders.

"Still, I'm the oldest so get the fuck back there and start taking inventory!" He demanded. Fred rolled his eyes and slunk into the back room. George heard him start to work, checking through all the boxes and taking down what they had and what they needed.

George picked the paper back up and started reading about Emerald's wedding. It seemed like the most expensive thing that he had ever read about, complete with a full symphony orchestra and a huge wedding with over five hundred guests. It was lavish beyond anyone's belief, but he couldn't deny that Emerald looked absolutely miserable even if she was covered in lace and pearls. Even with dozens of people surrounding her, she refused to smile. He pursed his lips together, his eyes remaining on the picture. Maybe…maybe Emerald wasn't as bad as he had originally thought. She seemed all right the last time that he had seen her…besides the whole Fred choking him thing. She had defended him and tried to pull Fred off of him…even after he had…George shuddered slightly and tossed the paper back into the trash.

There was a light knock at the door, but George didn't even bother to look to see who it was.

"We're closed, come back tomorrow." He called out.

The person knocked again.

"Can't you hear me? We're closed, come back tomorrow!" There was a moment of silence before the lock slowly began to turn and the door popped open. George instantly drew out his wand and held it at the ready as the intruder pushed the door open and walked in. He instantly dropped his wand along with his jaw.

"Hello George…"

"Emerald…what the fuck are you doing here?" George asked as he ducked down to the ground and picked up his wand. Emerald quietly shut the door behind her and pushed her own wand into her coat pocket. She wore a navy style black coat with her hair in a low bun and her head covered by a turquoise hat. Her hair had grown much longer, strands hanging down around her face with the rest of her hair gathered at the back of her neck. There was something calm and docile about her nature, but her eyes were sad and she looked like she was about to cry. She couldn't even manage to smile at him, but merely stood in the doorway.

"Can I talk to Fred?" She asked quietly. George pursed his lips together.

"What do you think?"

"I think that you should step aside and let me talk to Fred…"

"He's already seen the wedding announcement, what does it matter if you talk to him?"

"Why should I explain myself to you?" She asked, taking a step into the shop. George held out his wand, forcing her to press her back against the door.

"Just leave…" He muttered. Emerald pursed her lips together, her eyes suddenly becoming enraged.

"You can't tell me what to do!" She exclaimed. "Now move so I can talk to Fred!"

"No!" He exclaimed. The shop door opened, making Emerald stumble forward as an extremely tall man walked into the shop. George instantly recognized the man to be Kent Adair, Emerald's new husband.

"Emerald, are you done in here?" He asked in a heavy Scottish accent, his eyes going over every inch of the shop. There was a certain disgust on his face, but he didn't say anything that was sure to offend. "Your family's waiting for us and we're late enough already." Emerald didn't look up at him, but kept her eyes harshly on George.

"Yeah…yeah we can go." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and started to lead her towards the door. She suddenly stopped him, looking over at George with her eyes softening. "Will you ask Fred…if he finished Hamlet? There's something in the back for him…something important." George rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, just get out of here." He demanded. Emerald kept her eyes on George as they left the shop. Kent quickly shut the door, doing his best to pull her into some sort of conversation. George stood there for a moment before harshly kicking the counter. Fred instantly ran out of the back room, his eyes wide.

"Dude, what the fuck?" He asked as he looked at the huge dent in the counter. He quickly repaired it with the simple flick of his wand, but he still was curious as to his brother's anger. George shook his head.

"Sorry…I just got really pissed off…"


	24. Whatever You Want

"She came to the shop and you didn't even fucking tell me?" Fred flipped over the chair in their flat and let out a loud scream as George shrunk back into the kitchen. It was a month after Emerald had showed up in the shop and George was just now telling his brother. Needless to say, he was less than happy. He hadn't mentioned the fact that Kent had been with her, but he had a feeling that that would only piss him off even more.

"I figured that you didn't want to see her…" George muttered. Fred lunged for him, but George pushed him back so that he didn't get punched.

"You're the one that convinced me to move on!" Fred pushed George away. "Why don't you try thinking about somebody other than yourself?" George furrowed his brow together.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You sent her away because you didn't like us being together." George's jaw dropped.

"She's married, there's not a whole lot that you can do for her!" Fred lashed out to punch his brother, but George ducked and miss Fred's fist by mere centimeters.

"It's your fault that she left!"

"Don't go blaming me for your shit."

"I blame you for everything!" Fred screamed. "If it weren't for you, Emerald would still be here with me!" George scoffed.

"You don't know that for sure."

"But I would know if you hadn't kept screwing us over!" George's blood started to boil.

"Shut your fucking mouth!" He said, pointing at his brother square in the nose. Fred stared at him for what seemed like forever, his eyes narrowed and flaming.

"You raped her, you're lucky that I'm even talking to you." He muttered. "I could have turned you in and watched you go to jail without any regret…you didn't even tell her that you were sorry."

"Why should I apologize? It wasn't like she hadn't been fucked before…"

George felt a sudden stabbing of pain in his stomach. It was guilt, guilt for saying something so vile. Had he really become that kind of person that would sink so low as to violate somebody and then feel that he had been justified in doing so? Emerald was a person, not to mention the one girl that his brother had ever had feelings for. Oh God, when had he turned into such an ass?

The words had slowly sunken in, but all Fred could do was stare. He saw his brother, the mirror image of himself in appearance, but something so drastic had changed between them. It was as if they weren't brothers anymore, but rivals fighting against each other for completely different goals. He shook his head and pulled on his coat with his keys already in his hand.

"I'm gonna leave, and I'm not coming back…sell the flat, rent out the extra room, I don't care…" He muttered, not bothering to pick up any of his things to take with him. George furrowed his brow together.

"What the fuck? We can't even live together now?" Fred just shook his head.

"I'll come back later and get my stuff." George searched his mind, trying to find something that would make his brother stay.

"Have you finished Hamlet?" He suddenly asked just as Fred was reaching for the doorknob. He stopped and looked over his shoulder.

"What?"

"She…Emerald wanted to know if you finished Hamlet." Fred's face went blank.

"Why?" George thought back to that day, trying to remember exactly what Emerald had said.

"Because…she left something in there for you…in the book…at least I think that's what she said…fuck it happened so long ago." Fred rushed to his room and went to his bookcase where Hamlet sat on the tallest shelf. He flipped through the pages and shook the book cover, watching his own bookmark slip from the pages. After a few more shakes, a small envelope fluttered to the floor. On the front, in beautiful cursive, was his name. He instantly scrambled to pick it up and ripped open the wax seal. The pages had been pressed together for a very long time and the ink had faded slightly. There were only two pages written in Emerald's hand, the lettering small just as he had remembered. He sunk down to his bed, slowly reading every word that had been written so long ago.

'Congratulations, you've finally finished Hamlet! I'm so proud, but very sad that I won't be there to see this glorious moment. Not only because you've finished it, but because you actually managed to finish a Shakespeare play by yourself.

'So if you haven't guessed, I've left. I'm sorry Fred, I just can't stand to see you and your brother always fighting and jumping down each other's throats over me. I'm not worth it; I'm not worth all of this fighting so I'm going to fix the problem. I hope that you'll forget me. Not that I want you to forget me, but I know that you need to forget me. I know it will be hard, but you must try, for me. I want you to move on with your life because I plan to move on with mine to the best of my abilities. I know that this all seems rather dramatic, but sometimes dramatic problems call for dramatic solutions.

'I want you to read it from me before you hear it from anybody else: after I finish school, I have every intention of accepting Kent's proposal. It is not because I love him. After I leave you, I see no point in even trying to find somebody else. I love you so much and it breaks my heart to do this, but family is far more important than me. Because in the end, family will be the one thing that you'll have in this world who will never judge you and never take you for granted. You have a beautiful family Fred, please, don't give them up just for me.

'Know that I'll never stop loving you. I only marry somebody else because there is no point in ever trying to find another love like you. You are the most treasured person in my heart and I will cherish you forever.

'I love you,

'Emerald.'

With shaking hands, Fred slowly folded the letter and tucked it back between the pages of Hamlet. His breath was shaking and he felt like he was about to pass out. George stood in the doorway, his brother completely aloof to his presence.

"So what did she say?" He asked quietly. Fred pursed his lips together, keeping his mouth shut and working hard to gather his thoughts.

"You sent away the one person in the world that I love more than life itself…and you expect me to just talk to you as if nothing was wrong?" George swallowed a lump in his throat, hearing the deadly tone in his brother's voice.

"Um…"

"Just do me a favor George." He muttered as he slowly stood up with the book clutched in his hand. "For the next few days, don't talk to me." George quickly nodded as his brother stalked out of the room.

"Yeah, we don't have to talk, whatever you want."


	25. Let's Go Inside

Fred would never get the chance to finish Hamlet. He could never bring himself to open the book, knowing that the letter was still sitting in the back cover. When he had actually thought about finishing the book, it was too late.

That's what brought them all here again today, especially Emerald. Despite Kent's very loud protests, she had dragged him to England for the funeral. Oh yes, they were still married, but it was not a happy union. Kent and Emerald had a lot in common, but it just disgusted Emerald to even think about being with another man. With Fred gone, she was mortified to show her face again to his family. They would hate her, she knew it. That was why she was so hesitant to agree to come to the bar afterwards. What would they say to her? Would they tell her to just get out and take her ass back to Russia? Of course they would, she deserved nothing less. She sat scared for her life in the car with the wind shield wipers going at full blast. Kent let out a heavy sigh as he stared at the steering wheel of the perfectly maintained Lamborghini.

"Are we going in?" He asked quietly. Emerald smoothed back her hair, letting out a shaky sigh. She had abandoned her glasses for contacts, having found them to get water stained by the rain. Her hair was slowly starting to curl despite her best efforts to keep it straight. Under her cloak, she was dressed in a very Russian high fashion dress. It went to her knees with a high waist and fluttering sleeves that danced around her whenever she walked. It was a dark grey with a strand of pearls resting around her neck. Emerald eventually gave up and pulled her hair into a messy bun, letting out a frustrated sigh.

"Of course we're going in." She muttered angrily.

"Then why have we been sitting here for the past twenty minutes?" Emerald pursed her lips together.

"Because I'm fucking scared, okay?" Kent put a hand on her knee and she instantly went stiff.

"I'll be with you." She glanced over at him.

"I want you to wait in the car." She said, pulling her knee away from his hand. Kent let his hand hang there for a moment before he slowly pulled it back and let it rest on his lap.

"Why do I always have to wait in the car?" He muttered. It was true. Whenever Emerald went anywhere with Kent, she would always ask him to stay behind or wait for her in some distant spot. She was ashamed of always leaving him behind, but she couldn't stand to be seen with him. Whenever they were together, she knew that people would always ask why such a handsome man was with such a…plain girl. She and Kent just didn't fit together and it was so obvious. He was closer to a god and Emerald…well, Emerald was closer to a normal person. It drove her up the wall…

"Then come in if you want." She muttered. "But it won't make things any easier."

"Why haven't you ever given us a chance?" He asked, going back to a subject that emerald preferred to avoid.

"Can we please talk about this later?" She asked, reaching for the door handle. Kent locked the doors from his side with a harsh look on his face. "I'll take that as a 'no'…"

"Do you know how crazy people think I am?"

"If it makes you feel any better, I think that you're crazy too." Emerald muttered.

"I've been married to you for three years and…you hate me." Emerald let out a heavy sigh.

"I don't hate you."

"Then why can't we ever go places together? Why won't you ever talk to me when we eat together? Why can't we sleep in the same room…why can't we--?"

"Don't even finish that sentence." She said, holding up her hands and pinching her eyes closed. Kent pursed his lips together, his cheeks turning pink.

"Why can't we have sex?" Emerald groaned.

"You know why."

"No, you've never explained it to me!" He screamed. "Why can't I touch you? You're my wife, I should be allowed to at least sleep in the same bed as you."

"Fine, when we get home, we'll move into the same bedroom together." Kent shook his head.

"No, we're not going back to Russia."

"What the fuck are you talking about? Where are we supposed to go?" Kent just stubbornly shook his head.

"I'm not living in that little cabin anymore, we're moving back here."

"But I don't want to move back here."

"This is one decision that I'm making!" He exclaimed. "You've gotten your way up until now, but that's got to change! We're moving back here…I've already found a house for us, we're going to meet with the realtor later today." Emerald's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"But that's not fair!"

"My life hasn't been fair for the past three years!" Emerald sunk back in the leather seats.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have agreed to this whole thing."

"Maybe I didn't have to agree to anything." Kent remained silent as the words slowly sank into Emerald's mind.

"You wanted this?" She asked quietly, completely shocked. "But…why?" Kent firmly placed his hands on the steering wheel.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Then explain it to me." He let out a heavy sigh as if something was weighing down on his chest.

"When we were in primary school, we were in the same class for four years." Emerald furrowed her brow together.

"We were?" Kent nodded.

"I was the kid that sat in the corner and wouldn't talk or play with anybody. I had the long hair and I never spoke." He quickly explained. "I remember…you were the only person that would ever talk to me…even if I didn't talk back. You were the only person that was ever nice to me and the only person that would ever play with me at recess…when I heard that a woman named Shepherd was looking to set up an arranged marriage for her granddaughter, I jumped at the chance…because I knew that it would be you." A shiver went through Emerald's entire body.

"Why would you ever feel that way about me? I mean, look at you! You could have any woman that you want."

"You're smart, you're funny, you're sarcastic when you need to be, you're kind and caring…and you're very beautiful." Emerald blushed.

"No I'm not, I think that you've got me confused with somebody else."

"See…you're so funny…I could never be as funny as you…"

"Kent…"

"I thought by now…after three years…that you would feel the same way that I do about you…but I guess I was wrong." He rested his face in his palm. "Maybe I was wrong about this whole thing…" Kent shook his head. She had never seen him so frustrated before. He had always been the quiet type, never talking about his feelings and just doing whatever Emerald did. Deep down, she knew that he had felt like this, but she had tried not to think about it. The thought would have troubled her too much if she did.

With a hesitant hand, Emerald reached out and rested carefully on his knee. Kent jumped at first, but he quickly relaxed and stole a glance at her relaxed face. Emerald's faced suddenly jumped to life with a small smile.

"Let's move back here…into the same room…but no sex." Kent smirked with a small chuckle.

"All right…"

"And you can't get too close to me."

"Does somebody have personal bubble issues?" Emerald's smile faltered slightly.

"I haven't been in the same bed with somebody since…since Fred." She said, her eyes going back to the bar that loomed ahead of them, the rain making the bright lights blur together. Kent also looked up, feeling a small pang of jealousy.

"You loved him?" He asked. Emerald snorted.

"I thought that would kinda be obvious after I dragged you all the way down here for his…funeral…" Her eyes started to water up; the fact that he was dead hitting her again. She lowered her face so that Kent wouldn't see her cry, but it was more than obvious to him. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry." He said for the first time since he had heard the news of Fred. He had never much cared for him, knowing that Emerald would always love Fred more then him. "I know that you loved him and…you're very brave to come here, after you left so suddenly." Emerald quickly wiped away all the tears that remained on her face and took a few deep breaths to calm herself and stop the crying. She looked over at Kent with a small smile.

"I'm glad that you're here with me." She whispered, almost too quietly for him to hear. He nodded, returning the smile.

"I'm glad that you actually let me out of the house." Emerald laughed, shaking her head.

"It's not like I chain you down!" Kent smirked and gently took her hand in his.

"Come on, let's go inside."


	26. You'll Always Be Mrs Fred Weasley To Me

Just so you know, I didn't write the poem in this chapter. It was written by another wonderful author named Joel L. Reid. He deserves all the credit for this beautiful poem, not me. Personally, I haven't read something this beautiful in a very long time to definite kudos to him!

Emerald was shaking as they walked into the bar, the rain pelting them from behind. Kent stayed close behind her, but did not hold her hand as she had asked. He had wanted to, but she said that it would have been too hurtful to the family for them to see her with somebody other than their son. The bar was fairly crowded, filled mostly with friends and family drinking an assortment of pints. The speech was muted and the music was simple, some piano music playing only to fill what silence there was.

Emerald let out a shaky sigh, her eyes going from person to person. She knew everybody here and she was certain that everybody knew who she was. Kent gently touched her arm, coming to stand next to her with his eyes also scanning the room.

"You'll be fine." He whispered. "Find somebody safe to talk to…besides me…" Emerald smirked slightly.

"I guess that would make sense." She looked around the room and found the one non-family member that she felt that she could talk to. Hermione was standing amongst a small group of girls and Emerald slowly approached her, Kent closely behind her. Hermione's face instantly lit up when she saw Emerald's face emerge from the crowd of black.

"Emerald!" She exclaimed, pushing away from the group of girls and wrapping her arms around Emerald's neck. "You came…everybody thought that you wouldn't come, but you did!" Emerald hugged her back, not realizing that it would be so good to see Hermione again.

"I wouldn't miss this." She whispered. Hermione pulled back, a soft smile gracing her lips.

"It's so good to see you again…we haven't seen you since…" Emerald quickly nodded.

"I know. It's good to be back…the constant snow gets old after a while." Hermione nodded.

"So…where were you?" She asked.

"Russia." Kent replied without thinking. Hermione looked up at him as if she had just noticed him.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe that we've met." She said, sticking out her hand. "I'm Hermione, it's very nice to meet you…"

"Kent." He quickly replied. "Kent Adair. I'm…"

"He's my husband." Emerald said. Both were shocked, but for very different reasons. Kent was shocked because Emerald had never introduced him as her husband and Hermione was shocked because she hadn't expected Emerald to have a husband.

"You're…married?" Hermione asked, completely stunned. Emerald nodded.

"Yes, I have been for three years."

"Oh wow…" She muttered. "I…I…this is so unexpected…I wouldn't have pictured you getting married so…quickly."

"It wasn't exactly her choice." George said, suddenly butting into the conversation. Emerald glanced up at him, her face going blank. They stared at one another before George motioned for her to follow him. "Come on, let's get you a drink."

Emerald didn't hesitate. She followed after him as they weaved their way through the crowds of people and went to the bar, leaving Kent and Hermione to make awkward small talk. George ordered her a pint, despite the fact that he knew that she probably wasn't going to drink it.

"So, he's quite the looker." Emerald rolled her eyes, surprising George by taking a good long drink.

"Believe me, I didn't marry him for his looks…"

"Right…Fred told me about you and Kent…eventually." She glanced up at him.

"What do you mean eventually?"

"It took him a year to tell me what you had written to him in that letter…and when he finally did, I just didn't see how everything had made sense to you…why would you leave him like that?" She looked up at him.

"Did you enjoy the last few years with your brother…before he was killed?" George pursed his lips together, looking down at the bar.

"I wouldn't trade them for anything." He muttered.

"Then you should be thanking me…if I had been around, none of this would have happened."

"Oh yeah right, like you could have stopped Fred from dying."

"How do you know?" She asked, tears quickly returning to her eyes. "How do you know that I wouldn't have stopped him from going to fight? How do you know that I wouldn't have stepped in front of him to protect him?" She looked away from him, biting her lower lip hard. "You're so full of yourself George…I'm so sick of it…"

"Sick of what?"

"I'm sick of you!" She covered her eyes with her hands, letting out a small whimper. "I'm so sick of all your bullshit, it's making me sick to even think about it! Fred and I loved each other…you couldn't even let us have each other…" George stared into the bottom of his own pint, feeling a pang of guilt deep in his stomach. He hadn't invited Emerald to come here to fight with her, he had invited her to allow her to mourn the loss of Fred. God, why didn't he know when to quit?

"I'm sorry." He whispered. Emerald wiped away her tears, taking another long drink from her pint.

"Right now, your words mean nothing." She muttered. "You won, Fred and I will never be together again. You'll never have to see me or hear from me ever again after today…happy?" George shook his head.

"No…I'm not." He pushed away his pint. "For the last years of his life, Fred was miserable. He thought of you constantly and wanted nothing more than to see you again…but he didn't know where you had disappeared to; nobody knew where you had gone. You were the one thing that made my brother happy…and I'm so sorry that I took you away from him." Emerald let out a shaking sigh. There was something about the expression on George's face that made Emerald believe him. Perhaps, after all of these years, he finally was sorry for everything that he had done. She leaned against the bar when George finally dared to look up at her.

"I forgive you." She whispered. George swallowed the lump in his throat, pushing back his tears.

"Thank you."

"Can I please have everybody's attention?"

Everybody looked up to see Arthur Weasley standing with a long piece of paper in his hands. He was asking for silence in a very quiet room and he quickly got it. He cleared his throat and put on a pair of fairly new glasses.

"Thank you, now if you'll all listen, I'll go ahead and read my son's will…" He straightened out the piece of paper and his eyes instantly began scanning over it. "I, Fred Weasley, being of somewhat sound mind and questionable body, certify this to be my last will and testament. I hope you haven't cried too much, believe me, I'm happy taking a nap.

"For my half of the shop, I leave it to George, of course. Who else was I going to leave it to, Ron? George, don't screw this up, you're on your own now and I won't be there to do your bitch work. And don't try to deny it, I moved boxes while you sat up front and ate all the chocolate. I ask you, does that seem fair?

"As for the rest of my stuff, divvy it up amongst yourselves. It doesn't matter to me what you keep or save. Mom will probably end up keeping my clothes, that's just a given. If mom and dad decide to just bust out with seven more kids, please give my clothing to the handsome twin out of your new set, I obviously don't need to provide a reason.

"There is one thing that I need to have delivered. My copy of Hamlet, the one that's sitting in the top left corner of my bookshelf, must be mailed to Mrs. Emerald Adair. I don't know where she is or if she would even want it back, but it must at least be offered. I know how much she loved the play, so please give it back to her at all costs."

Emerald felt a knot in her stomach, her knees shaking as she leaned heavily against the bar. Her entire body was in turmoil as she stood and listened. It was hard to believe that somebody so light hearted in their will would have missed her so terribly, but she wouldn't put it past Fred. George took her hand, giving it a light squeeze as his father continued. He knew what came next and he wasn't sure if she would be able to handle it.

"To Emerald, I hope that you're here. At least I found a way to bring you back to me somehow. Please, read what's written on the other page of what's enclosed with my will. I wrote it for you." Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out a white crisp envelope with Emerald's name neatly written on it. It took her a moment, but with all eyes on her Emerald slowly made her way up to Arthur. Despite everything, Arthur smiled at her and handed her the letter. They awkwardly stood there, Emerald had started to cry with the letter clutched in her hands. Arthur suddenly hugged her, feeling his own tears well up in his throat.

"You were the best thing for him." He whispered into her ear. Emerald whimpered as he let go of her and stepped back into the crowd. Everybody was softly smiling at her, waiting intently to hear what she had to say. She opened the envelope and slowly drew out a neatly folded piece of paper. There was barely anything written on it, but she cleared her throat and started from the top.

"I wrote this…when you first left…and when I was wishing for you to come back. I still wish for you to come back.

'Her loveliness fills his waking hours,

And her tender arms haunt his troubled dreams.

Her voice is a fountain of the sweetest waters,

And her breath, the kiss of angels.

The tone of her skin, the scent of her hair,

The color of her lips in a brightly lit room,

And the softness of her careless touch

All are memories etched into his soul.

His longing heart races at the sound of her name,

And his emptiness is complete without her.

He counts the minutes until their hearts are one,

And each minute lost is his eternal regret.'"

Emerald stared down at the page, her eyes continuously going back and forth between the lines. Never in her entire life had she read anything so beautiful. Not even Shakespeare could write such beautiful words. She stared at the page and let out a heavy sigh as she slowly folded it back up and slipped it back into the envelope. She felt dead inside; like she was the worst person in the world. Emerald was finally able to pick her head up and look at the people in front of her. They were still staring, some crying and others with confused expressions on their faces. It was almost as if they were expecting her to say something, but clearly nobody was insisting upon it. Still, Emerald couldn't help what came out next.

"I loved Fred." She blurted out with the letter clutched to her chest. "I still love him, I think about him every day…I wish I had told him that, but I think he knew that I would have given anything to be with him forever." She let her tears fall, her breathing suddenly becoming very erratic. "Please never think that I ever wanted to leave…I wanted to stay because Fred was my everything. I wish…I wish that I had told him that more…" She began to cry much harder now, her entire body shaking from her sobs. Kent emerged from the crowd and wrapped his arms around her. She buried herself into his chest, crying into his suit and holding onto him tightly.

"Come on, let's go sit down." He whispered into her ear. She was slightly embarrassed as they walked through the crowd and to a table in the back corner. Emerald sunk onto the stool with Kent holding her up.

"I made a complete ass of myself, didn't I?" She asked quietly, holding her face in her hands. Kent quickly shook his head, sitting down across from her.

"No, you spoke beautifully." He told her. Emerald managed to pick her head up and stared at Kent.

"How could somebody like you ever want to stay with somebody like me?" She asked him. Kent just shrugged his shoulders.

"I have my doubts, but all in all, you're an amazing woman." Emerald shook her head, letting out a shaky sigh.

"If we're going to be living in the same space, you're not allowed to say that kind of stuff…especially if you're looking to get sex out of this." Kent couldn't help but smile.

"That still doesn't change the fact that I think that you're the most sarcastic person that I've ever met."

"Yes, Emerald has quite a gift for sarcasm." George leaned against the table, a small smirk on his face.

"And George has a gift for entering a conversation at the exact right time." Emerald shot back, a little smirk seamlessly playing on her face. She smoothed down the front of her dress, staring down at the small table. "We should probably get going…we have a house to look at, don't we?" She asked, glancing over at Kent. He nodded slightly, surprised that she had remembered.

"You're moving back?" George asked. Emerald nodded.

"Russia's getting to be a bit of a bother…" She muttered. "I think I've seen enough snow to last me a lifetime."

"Well, it does snow an awful lot in Russia…pretty sure that it's snowy white all year round."

"And you would be right." Emerald said. She slowly slid off her stool with Kent instantly right beside her. "I should go…nobody probably wants me here…"

"You'd be wrong." He muttered. "Mom was hoping that you would be here…she knew how much Fred loved you." Emerald smiled slightly, feeling a small painful pang in her stomach.

"Still…we need to leave." She slowly made her way towards the door, with what she knew would be dozens of eyes on her. They all knew the story and how it had ended and were so curious to know why. Emerald would never say; that was between her and Fred and it would remain that way until the day she died.

Kent opened the door for her, a wave of rain instantly spraying against their legs. Emerald shivered, but went ahead and stepped outside.

"Emerald!"

George rushed out after her, pulling her into a tight hug. She hesitated at the sudden embrace, but quickly wrapped her arms around him. They stayed like that for what seemed to be forever, rain pelting their sides.

"You'll always be my sister…you'll always be Mrs. Fred Weasley to me." Emerald rested her forehead against his shoulder, letting out a strangled sob.

"You have no idea how much that means to me." She muttered. George nodded, slowly rubbing her back.

"Just promise that you'll come back and visit us every once in a while…you know, just to make sure that you're still alive." Emerald smirked as George let her go.

"I'll come back when I can…if you all still want me to come back." George put a hand on her shoulder.

"You'll always be welcome here." Emerald nodded.

"Good to know." She stepped out from the bar and quickly rushed to the Lamborghini where Kent was already waiting inside of her. He had turned on the heat and had the wind shield wipers going as fast as they could. He didn't wait long to shift into gear and pull away from the bar. George stood and waved with Emerald helplessly returning the wave as they drove away. They were on the highway in a matter of minutes, speeding off towards London.

"What did you buy us?" Emerald finally asked quietly. Kent adjusted his hands on the steering wheel.

"A flat on the top floor of a complex…it's small, but I didn't think that we would need a whole lot of room…seeing as it would just be the two of us." Emerald smiled slightly, keeping her eyes forward on the dark road.

"I like that…"

"And there's only one bedroom…so unless you want to sleep on the couch, you'll be stuck with me." He reminded her. Emerald giggled.

"All right, I get it, we have to share a bed."

They sat together in silence, London still a few miles away. Kent nervously tapped the steering wheel and stole the occasional glances at Emerald.

"Em…I know that I'll never be Fred and that I'll never be exactly what you need, but I want to be…I hope that you'll think of me as a good substitute." Emerald stared at him, seeing how nervous he was. She could see that his palms were sweating and that his legs were shaking slightly.

"You don't have to be a substitute for Fred…all you have to be is Kent and I'll love you for it."

Emerald would never be able to forget about Fred, that was certain as they drove into London. But the one thing that she could do, the one thing that she knew would make Fred happy, would be to live her life without regrets and to always hold him in her heart.

She would never live happily ever after, but she would live…


End file.
